•■.70  .  b 


0t  m  , 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


Presented  b^TV^S  \^<arY>T^VVor- 


BX  na  pfi?  ispo 

Roche,  John  A.  1813-1898 
The  life  of  John  Price 
Durbin,  D.D. ,  LL.D. 


President*  of 'Dickinson  College. 


THE  Ll-FE 

JOHN  PRICE  DURBIN,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

WITH 

AN  ANALYSIS  OF  HIS  H0M1LETIC  SKILL  AND 
SACRED  ORATORY, 


JOHN  A.  ROCHE,  M.D.,  D.D. 

WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 
BY- 
RANDOLPH  S.  FOSTER,  D.D.,  LL.D., 

Bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Chi'rch. 

"  The  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man." — Pope. 

"Study  to  show  thyself  approved  unto  God,  a  workman  that  needeth  not  to  be 
ashamed,  rightly  dividing  the  word  of  truth." — 2  Tim.  2.  /j. 


NEW  YORK:  PHILLIPS  &*  HUNT. 
C  INC  INN  A  TI:  CRANSTON  &>  STOVVE. 
1889. 


Copyright,  1889,  by 
JOHN   A .  ROCHE, 
New  York. 


TO 

THE  YOUNG  MINISTERS  OF  METHODISM: 

IN 

WHOM  THE  SUBJECT  OF  THIS  BIOGRAPHY  CHERISHED  THE 
DEEPEST  INTEREST; 
FOR 

WHOSE  ADVANCEMENT  IN  PULPIT  POWER  HE  WAS  EVER  READY  TO 
EMPLOY  THE  BEST  MEANS  AT  HIS  COMMAND  ; 
AND 

AS  AN  EXPRESSION  OF  THE  HIGH  SENSE  ENTERTAINED 
BY 

THE  AUTHOR 
OF  THE  VALUE  OF  KEEPING  BEFORE  OUR  RISING  MINISTRY 
SO  NOBLE  AN  EXAMPLE 
OF 

THE  POSSIBILITIES  OF  THEIR  HOLY  CALLING  : 
THIS  BOOK  IS 
RESPECTFULLY  DEDICATED. 


PREFACE. 


IN  the  May  number  of  the  Methodist  Review  of  1887 
there  appeared  an  article  designed  to  sketch  the  life 
and  characterize  the  ministry  of  Dr.  John  P.  Durbin. 
So  deep  was  the  interest  thus  awakened  in  the  subject, 
that  many  and  earnest  requests  came  to  the  writer  to 
give  some  larger  account  of  this  great  man.  The  in- 
telligence of  the  persons  expressing  this  wish  compelled 
the  inquiry  as  to  available  material  for  a  biography. 
Great  weight  was  given  to  these  private  suggestions  by 
the  action  of  the  Wilmington  and  the  Philadelphia 
Conferences,  which  at  their  last  session  passed  strong 
resolutions  requesting  the  writer  to  prepare  a  life  of 
Dr.  Durbin.  These  two  Conferences  had  formed  but 
one  body  nearly  all  the  time  of  Dr.  Durbin's  member- 
ship in  the  Philadelphia  Conference,  and  felt  a  com- 
mon interest  in  his  character  and  services. 

The  New  York  East  Conference,  of  which  the  writer . 
is  a  member,  passed  a  similar  resolution.    To  such  ex- 
pression no  one  of  sensibility  could  be  indifferent. 

But  candor  constrains  the  confession  that  the  writer 
had  long  entertained  the  thought  that  "  Homiletics  and 
Sacred  Oratory,"  taught  with  so  much  care  and  profit  in 
text-books  and  by  able  professors,  might  be  impressed 
by  example  of  their  most  weighty  and  influential  prin- 
ciples. The  writer's  knowledge  of  Dr.  Durbin  for 
forty  years  presented  him  as  an  illustration  of  the  great- 
est number  of  those  principles  that  he  had  met  in  one 
minister.  The  consideration  led  him  to  commence  the 
writing  of  this  book,    tt  will  be  seen,  therefore,  that 


vi 


PREFA  CE. 


its  object  is  twofold:  1.  To  narrate  the  life  of  Dr. 
Durbin  ;  and,  2.  To  analyze  his  powers  as  a  preacher. 

The  writer  makes  his  grateful  acknowledgments  to 
all  who  have  in  any  way  contributed  material  that 
served  the  ends  of  this  volume.  He  is  under  pre- 
eminent obligations  to  Mrs.  Augusta  F.  Whitaker,  of 
Philadelphia,  and  to  Alexander  C.  Durbin,  Esq.,  of 
Montclair,  N.  J.,  the  surviving  children  of  Dr.  Durbin. 
They  have  placed  at  his  disposal  the  manuscripts  in 
their  possession.  From  an  autobiographical  fragment 
the  most  accurate  and  comprehensive  information  con- 
cerning Dr.  Durbin's  early  labors  has  been  furnished. 

The  author  cannot  in  adequate  terms  express  his 
indebtedness  to  remaining  members  of  the  family  of 
Christopher  Smith,  Esq.,  of  Cincinnati.  From  and 
through  his  son-in-law,  Edward  Sargent,  Esq.,  new 
sources  of  knowledge  have  been  opened  to  the  writer. 

Cordial  thanks  are  rendered  Judge  John  Chambers, 
of  Eaton,  Ohio,  for  the  minutes  of  a  quarterly  confer- 
ence kept  by  young  Durbin.  A  like  expression  is  due 
the  Rev.  J.  O.  Roberts  for  his  account  of  the  early 
efforts  of  Durbin;  and  to  a  lady  friend  in  Philadelphia 
who  has  permitted  the  writer  use  of  memoranda  of  great 
value.  Thanks  are  also  due  the  Rev.  G.  W.  Lybrand, 
of  the  Philadelphia  Conference,  for  original  matter  as 
well  as  for  numerous  references;  and  to  the  Rev.  G.  D. 
Carrow,  D.D.,  for  material  that  was  sought  with  care. 

The  writer  cannot  express  his  obligations  to  those 
who  have  furnished  letters  concerning  Dr.  Durbin. 
Among  those  is  one  who  had  the  highest  honor  in  the 
first  graduating  class  of  Dickinson  College  under  Dr. 
Durbin,  whom  the  Church  now  honors  as  its  senior 
Bishop,  Dr.  Thomas  Bowman. 


CONTENTS. 


f* a n t  i. 

Memoir  op  John  P.  Durbin,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

CHAPTER  I. 

Ancestry — Youth — Father's  death — Mother's  energy  and  character 
— Wise  care  of  his  brothers — Learns  cabinet-making — Troubled  about 
a  call  to  preach — Searching  question  of  his  grandfather — Sent  as  a 
preacher  to  Limestone  Circuit,  Ky.,  in  a  week  after  joining  the  Church 
— Counsel  of  Beuj.  Lakin  Page  3 

CHAPTER  II. 

1819.  Received  into  Conference — Greenville  Circuit — Little  salary 
— Judge  Chambers's  facsimile  of  his  Quarterly  Conference  Minutes — 
Close  student — Rules  of  conduct — Account  of  jerks — Preaches  on  the 
deity  of  Christ.  1820.  At  Lawrenceburg— Studies  Enjrli^h  Grammar 
by  the  aid  of  his  colleague,  James  Collard— Learns  of  fruit  of  his  first 
ministry— Circulates  tracts— Means  of  a  conversion.  1821.  Hamilton 
Station— Studies  Latin — Attends  Miami  University — Conversion  of 
his  host— His  skill.  1822.  Lawrenceville  Station— David  Young  coun- 
sels him.  1823.  Lebanon — Trouble  in  the  Church— Depressed. 
1824.  In  Cincinnati — Happy  home  with  Christopher  Smith — Enters 
Cincinnati  College — Encouraged  by  General  William  Henry  Harrison, 
afterward  President  of  the  United  States — Graduates  with  honor..  17 

CHAPTER  III. 

Exalted  character  as  student  and  preacher  made  in  seven  years — 
Professor  in  Augusta  College — Marries — Agent  for  the  college — His 
vigorous  efforts — Resigns  his  chair — Elected  Professor  of  Natural 
Science  in  the  Wesleyan  University,  Middletown.  Conn  42 


v  iii 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Chaplain  to  the  United  States  Senate — Viewsof  usefulness — Reports 
of  the  difficulties  of  the  position— What  he  found — His  influence  in 
the   place — His  studies — Clay's  eloquence — Daniel  Webster's  tal- 


ents 59 

CHAPTER  V. 

The  persistent  student  in  Baltimore  and  Washington — Fame  does 
not  impair  his  energy  79 

CHAPTER  VI. 


Elected  editor  of  The  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal — His  intel- 
lectual vigor — Just  estimate  of  the  duties  of  the  place — Weighty 
lessons  that  he  impressed  on  people  and  preachers— Progressive.  .88 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Presidency  of  Dickinson  College — Its  history — The  faculty — Dr. 
Durbiu  secured — Success  .-  98 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
Travels  in  Europe  and  the  East — His  observations  and  interest.  109 

CHAPTER  IX. 
The  General  Conference  of  1 844— The  great  men — Debates  on  tho 


case  of  Bishop  Andrew — Dr.  Durbin's  part  122 

CHAPTER  X. 

Pastorate  and  presiding  eldership  in  Philadelphia — Full  of  work — 
Great  influence  141 

CHAPTER  XI. 

The  Missionary  Secretaryship — His  interest — Plans — Labors — In- 
fluence— Success  156 

CHAPTER  XII. 
Sermons  on  special  occasions — Their  wonderful  power  165 

CHAPTER  XIII. 


Correspondence  concerning  Dr.  Durbin  in  the  places  that  he  filled.  180 


CONTENTS.  ix 

PART  II. 

An-alysis  of  His  Power.    Homiletics  and  Sacked  Oratory. 

CHAPTER  XIV. 

His  eloquence — Suramertield — Bascom — Less  vehement  in  advanc- 
ing life — More  concentrated — Was  he  an  artist  ?   229 

CHAPTER  XV. 
His  style  as  a  means  of  moving  men — Plain,  animated,  sublime.  .248 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

His  imagination,  dramatic  power,  voice,  unction,  as  elements  in  his 
ministry  257 

CHAPTER  XVII. 
Extemporization — P]xtent  of  its  use — Conditions  of  success. . .  .278 

CHAPTER  XVIII. 
Homiletic  taste  and  skill — Subjects — Treatment  295 

CHAPTER  XIX. 

The  influence  of  a  conscious  call  to  the  ministry — Prompts,  justifies, 
sustains  313 

CHAPTER  XX. 


Eloquence  a  worthy  study — What  it  is — The  efforts  others  make  for 
its  attainment — Not  less  valuable  to  a  minister — That  few  attain  high 
excellence  is  no  reason  for  its  neglect — Wesley's  encouragement — 
Durbin's  example — Bascom  and  Durbin  compared — Resemblances  and 
contrasts  326 

CHAPTER  XXI. 

His  death — Relations — Family — Friends — Conference — His  person 
— Intercourse — In  Conference — Christian  character — Common  sense 
—  Uncommon  mental  power — A  consecrated  life— Contrast  between 
the  labors  of  the  Christian  minister  and  an  arch  infidel — His  life  a 
moral  folio  for  the  study  of  young  ministers  347 


INTRODUCTION. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  art  is  as  rare  as  genius.  Except 
to  the  stupid  most  biographies  are  stupid — mere 
arid  recitations  of  matters  of  no  interest  whatever.  A 
sufficient  reason  for  the  dullness,  in  a  great  majority 
of  cases  is  no  doubt  that  there  was  no  reason  why 
•  the  life  should  be  written.  It  is  astonishing  how 
few  lives,  even  of  conspicuous  men  in  high  posi- 
tions— statesmen,  men  eminent  in  the  professions,  or 
who  have  won  distinction  in  literature  or  art,  or  in 
any  other  way — have  in  them  any  thing  deserving  of 
commemoration  after  they  have  passed  away  from  the 
earth.  Immediate  relatives  and  partial  friends,  unwill- 
ing to  have  them  forgotten,  seek  to  prevent  it  by 
publishing  a  biography  which  perhaps  they  read  or 
glance  through,  but  which  no  one  else  finds  interesting 
unless  it  should  be  some  one,  or  some  classes,  who,  un- 
acquainted with  more  profitable  reading,  derive  some 
entertainment  and  possibly  some  profit  from  the  recital. 
Where  there  are  few  books,  any  thing — an  old  almanac 
— is  better  than  nothing.  After  all  there  is  scarcely  a 
poor  excuse  for  inflicting  a  biography  on  the  present 
age  of  even  a  more  than  ordinary  person  in  his  peculiar 
line  ;  if  he  be  less  than  really  extraordinary,  or  unless 
there  be  that  in  his  character  and  achievements  and  the 
incidents  of  his  life  which  is  suggestive  and  inspiring, 
it  is  better  that  he  be  permitted  to  go  quietly  to  rest. 
The  age  is  too  busy  and  full  for  commonplace.  Many 
a  man  who  has  shone  with  noticeable  brilliancy  in  the 


xii 


INTRODUCTION. 


pulpit,  at  the  bar.  in  the  senate,  and  who  not  only  won 
but  deserved  admiration,  even  wide  fame,  will  not  bear 
the  strain  of  a  biography.  The  attempt  to  dress  him 
up  for  such  a  show  is  little  short  of  abuse.  He  ought 
to  live  in  traditions,  in  the  glamour  of  affectionate 
memories,  in  the  innocent  exaggerations  which  simply 
rank  him  with  sufficient  indetiniteness  as  among  the 
great  men  of  the  generation  of  giants  who  lived  in  the 
age  just  gone.  The  growing  fables  will  be  greatly 
more  just  to  his  memory  than  any  narrative  can  be. 
The  imagination  will  do  better  by  him  than  the  facts. 
We  protest,  in  the  interest  of  a  class  of  worthy  men 
who  have  well  served  their  time  and  deserve  to  be 
well  thought  of  and  affectionately  remembered,  against 
their  being  paraded  and  dwarfed  in  the  pages  of  dull 
biography. 

There  are  occasional  men  who,  for  one  reason  or 
another,  or  even  for  many  sufficient  reasons,  deserve  to 
be  handed  down  to  posterity  in  the  embalmment  of  a 
book ;  not  necessarily  greater  than  other  men  or  the 
very  greatest  of  all,  but  for  some  unique  qualities,  or 
possibly  some  accidental  environments,  or  some  inex- 
plicable magnetism,  or  some  triumph  over  peculiar  and 
great  difficulties,  or  some  marvelous  influences  which 
emanated  from  them,  or  the  conspicuous  part  which 
they  played  in  their  generation,  or  some  incident  or  in- 
cidents of  their  history  which  are  suggestive  and  help- 
ful, especially  to  the  young,  or  for  other  reasons. 

It  is  a  happy  conjuncture  when  such  a  man  finds  a 
Bo'swell  to  enshrine  him  or  a  biographer  worthy  his 
subject ;  and  it  is  not  always  to  be  deplored  when,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  great  essayist,  the  affections  of*  the 
biographist  render  him  sensitive  to  the  finest  traits  of 
the  subject,  or  even  if  the  reflected  image,  tinted  by 
overfondness,  should  possibly  flatter  the  original.  The 


INTRODUCTION. 


imagination  may  safely  play  a  part.  A  photograph 
or  portrait  in  any  style  ought  to  be  characteristically 
realistic  rather  than  ideal  ;  but  it  ought  not  to  be  com- 
plained of  when  it  gives  the  best  expression,  or  even 
though  it  should  in  a  degree,  not  grossly  exaggerate, 
but  mildly  drape  the  form. 

American  Methodism  rank  among  all  her  gifted  and 
eminent  sons,  in  any  work  of  official  distinction  or  min- 
isterial service  has  never  had  one,  if  we  except  her  first 
Bishop,  and  he  only  by  the  accidents  of  his  position, 
who  more  richly  deserved  a  classic  niche  in  her  temple 
of  fame,  or  who  has  furnished  a  finer  subject  for  the 
pen  of  genius  than  John  P.  Durbin.  If  there  have 
been  greater  or  more  loyal  sons  we  do  not  know  of 
them.  If  any  have  excelled  him  we  are  not  able  to 
name  them.  He  came  on  the  stage  in  the  heroic  days 
of  the  nation  and  of  the  Church,  and  for  fifty  years  and 
more,  without  a  flaw  or  failure,  stood  in  the  public  gaze 
only  to  be  honored  by  those  whose  respect  is  discrimi- 
nated praise,  and  by  whom  to  be  esteemed  great  is 
proof  of  real  greatness.  He  was  not  simply  the  pride 
of  his  own  Church,  but  equally  of  all  those  of  other 
Churches,  whether  in  pulpit  or  pew,  and  of  the  cultured 
of  no  Church  as  well,  who  were  capable  of  appreciating 
sacred  eloquence  or  admiring  the  charm  of  noble  and 
magnetic  manhood.  Modest  as  a  child  in  mien  and 
spirit  in  the  common  intercourse  of  life,  he  was,  when 
at  the  post  of  duty  and  roused  with  the  mighty  themes 
of  his  great  commission,  impassioned,  fervid,  irre- 
sistible as  the  electric  flash  or  the  great  forces  of 
nature  when  stirred  to  their  wildest  fury ;  but  whether 
in  the  cloister  or  amid  the  amenities  of  social  life,  or  in 
the  pulpit  careering  on  the  storm  of  matchless  eloquence, 
alike  in  all  places  he  won  and  swayed  all  hearts.  No 
orator  ever  had  more  complete  mastery  of  his  audi- 


xiv 


INTRODUCTION. 


ences  ;  but  it  was  always  as  the  ambassador  of  the 
great  King  that  he  delivered  his  messages  and  reached 
his  loftiest  climaxes.  He  was  never  forgetful  of  his 
great  commission,  and  never  compromised  the  dignity 
and  glory  of  his  adored  blaster. 

The  Church  and  all  the  admiring  friends  of  the 
great  Durbin  have  reason  to  congratulate  themselves  in 
his  biographer.  Dr.  Roche  brought  to  his  chosen  task 
the  indispensable  conditions  of  success  :  deep  personal 
affection  ;  long  and  intimate  acquaintance ;  special  op- 
portunities for  the  observation  and  study  of  his  sub- 
ject ;  a  discriminating  understanding  and  appreciation 
of  sacred  eloquence  ;  dramatic  skill  of  arrangement ; 
to  which  must  be  added  spiritual  sympathy.  Through- 
out he  is  on  fire  with  his  theme  ;  never  wearies  of  it  ; 
never  grows  dull  or  vapid.  He  lives  it  over,  from  the 
boy  on  the  Kentucky  "  blue-grass "  farm,  through  all 
the  windings  of  a  grand  and  beautiful  career,  even  to 
its  culmination.  There  is  nothing  wanting,  nothing 
omitted  to  mar  the  charm  of  the  mind  picture.  He 
makes  it  live  as  he  tells  the  story. 

The  rare  charm  of  the  volume,  the  highest  stroke  of 
biographical  skill  and  genius,  is  that  it  is  full  of  Dur- 
bin himself.  From  the  first  he  is  present  with  you  ; 
you  see  him,  hear  the  tone  of  his  voice,  feel  the  charm 
of  his  sympathy  ;  he  is  talking  with  you  ;  drawing  you 
to  him;  you  are  with  him  on  the  circuit;  at  the  homes 
among  the  people  where  he  stopped  ;  reading  the  books 
he  read  ;  thinking  his  thoughts.  Further  on,  after  boy- 
hood has  widened  into  manhood,  and  early  promise  has 
grown  into  fruition,  and  study  lias  ripened  into  scholar- 
ship and  position,  you  are  sitting  before  him  in 
the  college  chapel  feeling  the  spell  of  his  prayers,  his 
loving,  reproving,  and  persuasive  counsels,  in  the  reci- 
tation-room, thrilled  by  his  inspirations  and  lifted  by 


INTRODUCTION. 


xv 


his  instructions  :  anon  you  are  with  him  in  the  senate 
house,  where  his  sermons  and  prayers  hold  the  mighty 
men  of  the  nation  spell-bound  ;  and  yet,  over  and  over 
again  you  are  hearing  those  wonderful  sermons  which, 
in  great  city  pulpits  and  from  the  rude  stands  of  the 
camp-ground,  swayed  the  multitude  as  the  tempest 
bends  and  lashes  the  forests. 

There  is  so  much  reproduction  from  memory  gathered 
from  different  sources,  and  so  much  from  his  own  pen, 
that  you  seem  to  be  listening  again  to  the  matchless 
orator  and  hearing  the  very  tones  of  his  voice,  and  find 
yourself  crouching  under  those  amazing  gestures  of  his 
which  no  one  who  beheld  can  ever  forget.  That  flash, 
rather  shall  I  say  glare,  of  his  eye  startles  you  as  it  did 
when  you  sat  before  him,  that  transfigured  countenance, 
that  upturned  face,  that  wand  of  the  uplifted  hand,  to- 
gether with  the  words  that  made  him  the  most  magic 
of  preachers,  come  to  you  over  and  over  again  as  you 
read  the  interesting  pages. 

I  must  not  detain  you.  Dr.  Roche  has  nobly  done 
his  noble  task.  If  I  mistake  not  the  book  will  not  only 
be  read  with  thrilling  interest  by  multitudes  of  the 
present  generation  who  knew  and  admired  the  great 
Doctor,  not  indeed  in  the  glory  of  his  prime,  but  in  the 
toned  autumn  of  his  declining  age ;  but  it  will  live  on 
as  a  classic  of  the  now  rapidly-vanishing  mythic  age  of 
our  church  life  ;  the  age  amid  whose  shadowy  outlines 
we  discern  with  sufficient  indistinctness  to  magnify 
their  forms  the  heroic  men  who  laid  its  foundations. 
"  Distance  lends  enchantment  to  the  view  ; "  but  there 
were  great  men  in  those  times.  None  among  them  all, 
in  the  best  respects,  excelled  the  hero  of  this  story. 

The  young  men  in  the  ministry  of  the  present  gener- 
ation, who  come  upon  the  stage  with  such  improved 
equipment,  entering  as  they  do  into  the  labors  of  these 


xvi 


INTRODUCTION. 


honored  fathers  will  not  permit  their  memories  to 
perish  or  their  laurels  to  fade ;  but  coming  again  and 
again  to  the  study  of  their  struggles  and  story  of  their 
successes  will  strive  to  emulate  them  in  spirit  and  power. 
They  will  continue  forever  to  be  the  great  legion  in 
our  traditions  and  in  our  affections. 

The  Church  will  not  grow  weary  of  the  story  of  the 
past  or  of  the  men  who  made  it  illustrious.  We  com- 
mend Dr.  Roche's  book  with  unqualified  indorsement. 
Let  it  be  read  by  our  children  in  the  thousand  homes 
of  our  Methodism  in  city  and  country.  It  will  not  fail 
to  inspire  them  to  a  noble  life  as  well  as  entertain  them 
with  the  fascination  of  a  romance.  Let  it  find  a  place 
in  every  Sunday-school  library  for  the  more  advanced 
youth  it  will  inspire  them  with  love  for  their  Church. 

There  are  hints  and  rules  as  to  the  use  of  time  and 
habits  of  study  and  methods  of  preparing  sermons 
which  cannot  fail  to  be  educating  in  a  high  degree  to 
young  ministers.  The  book  abounds  with  allusions  to 
other  men  in  all  the  professions,  but  especially  the  most 
celebrated  preachers  of  all  Churches  who  were  the  con- 
temporaries of  the  subject  of  the  memoir,  so  that  a 
most  valuable  light  is  thrown  upon  the  age  itself.  There 
is  scarcely  a  celebrity  that  has  not  a  discriminative  and 
appreciative  analysis  of  his  peculiar  powers.  It  is  really, 
in  the  closing  chapters,  a  treatise  on  sacred  eloquence 
as  well  as  an  historical  resume  of  the  men  and  their 
peculiar  styles  of  thought  and  speech  who  in  the  forum 
and  the  pulpit  impressed  the  generation  just  gone — as 
Webster,  Clay,  Calhoun,  among  statesmen  ;  Bascom, 
Olin,  Maffit,  among  pulpiteers  ;  as  well  as  the  great 
orators  of  all  countries  and  all  times.  The  book  is  thus 
rendered  rich  in  a  remarkable  degree. 

I  cannot  close  this  brief  Introduction  without  per- 
sonal mention  of  the  distinguished  subject  of  this  ex- 


INTRODUCTION. 


xvii 


ceedingly  interesting  sketch.  I  feel  under  personal  ( 
obligation  to  the  author  for  doing  that,  and  doing  it  so 
admirably  well,  which  I  had  almost  despaired  of  seeing 
done  at  all.  It  seemed  that  the  man  who  most  of  all 
deserved  a  memoir  was  not  to  find  a  biographer.  It 
must  have  been  an  inspiration  that  led  Dr.  Roche  to 
undertake  the  work.  Perhaps  no  other  living  man 
could  have  done  it  so  well. 

My  recollection  of  the  great  Doctor  dates  back  nearly 
fifty  years,  just  at  the  time  when  he  was  in  the  zenith 
of  his  fame.  He  had  just  passed  out  of  his  youth  into 
the  full  strength  of  his  mature  manhood.  It  was  when 
Bascom  and  Hamline  were  at  the  height  of  their  power. 
Simpson  was  just  in  the  dawn  of  his  rapidly-rising 
popularity.  I  think  it  is  safe  to  say  that  Methodism 
has  never  since  had  four  comparable  names,  and  prob- 
ably never  will  again.  Circumstances  have  greatly  to 
do,  certainly,  with  the  quality  of  men's  fame  ;  possibly 
with  the  quality  of  men  themselves. 

The  country  was  new.  The  age  was  uncritical.  The 
pulpit  was  the  great  throne  of  power.  The  pen  and 
printed  page  were  less  in  use.  The  people  were  eager 
to  hear.  Impassioned  speech  thrilled  and  swayed  the 
vast  expectant  assemblies  who  rushed  for  miles  to  hear 
the  famous  orator.  There  was  eloquence  in  the  air. 
All  the  circumstances  conspired  to  kindle  enthusiasm. 
It  was  inevitable  that,  standing  in  the  focus  of  such 
forces,  the  speaker  should  be  at  his  best.  The  effect 
was  inchoate  before  he  began.  Hungry  of  combustion, 
the  assembly  took  fire  at  the  first  spark.  On  the  eager 
flame,  the  orator  himself  more  impassioned,  rose  and 
soared  to  the  sublimest  heights  of  inspired  eloquence. 
The  effect  was  often  magical.  It  is  impossible  for  this 
generation  to  conceive  of  it.  The  waves  of  feeling 
that  rushed  over  the  assembly  were  as  visible  as  the 


xviii 


INTRODUCTION. 


effect  of  the  storm  on  ocean  or  forest.  Hundreds 
would  rise  to  their  feet  under  unconscious  impulse, 
lean  forward,  press  toward  the  speaker,  weeping,  sob- 
bing, or  shouting,  under  the  thrilling  appeal.  Many 
times  numbers  fell  like  the  slain  in  battle.  Under 
Durbin  and  Bascom  I  have  repeatedly  witnessed  all 
these  effects  myself.  It  would  not  accord  with  truth 
to  say  that  there  are  not  as  great  men  now  living ;  but 
the  times  make  it  impossible  that  any  should  produce 
such  visible  signs  of  emotion  as  attended  those  mighty 
and  glorious  men.  I  must  stay  my  pen.  Read  the 
book,  and  you  will  read  it  again,  and  will  thank  Dr. 
Roche  that  he  has  set  in  order  his  admirable  words 
commemorative  of  the  great  life  whose  spell  still  lin- 
gers with  us. 

R.  S.  F. 


\ 


PART  I. 


MEMOIR  OF  JOHN  P.  DURBIN,  D.D.,  LLD. 

2 


MEMOIR  OF  JOHN-P.  DURBIN,  D.D,  LLD. 


CHAPTER  I. 
Ancestry— Youth— Early  Ministry. 

HUMAN  greatness  commands  the  savage  and  the  sage. 
It  inspires  the  genius  of  the  poet  and  is  the  chosen 
theme  for  eloquence.  History  records  its  results  and 
wisdom  avails  itself  of  its  benefits.  In  exalted  reputa- 
tions and  influence  men  are  "not  born  to  die."  Their 
lives  do  honor  to  our  nature  and  their  history  is  the 
heritage  of  the  race.  When,  therefore,  one  has  sub- 
limely served  his  generation  by  the  will  of  God,  duty 
may  demand  that  we  gather  up  the  facts  that  made  him 
illustrious,  and  thus  impress  lessons  of  value  upon  those 
who  survive.  The  Bible  immortalizes,  by  name  and^deed, 
the  great  and  good,  and  teaches  that  no  man  liveth  to 
himself  and  no  man  dieth  to  himself.  Tamerlane  was 
accustomed  to  read  of  his  progenitors,  not  for  boast- 
ing, but  to  improve  his  virtues.  The  noble  acts  of  our 
predecessors  may  lure  us  from  paths  of  indolence  and 
awaken  a  just  ambition  to  imbibe  their  spirit  and  follow 
in  their  steps.  Worth  begets  worth.  As  from  the  ashes 
of  the  phenix  others  rise,  from  great  men  others  are 
produced. 

Few  men  in  any  Church  have  ever  occupied  and  filled 
with  efficiency  and  honor  so  many  important  positions 
as  Dr.  Durbin.  We  may,  then,  be  allowed  to  say,  "As 
some  entranced  limner  seizes  the  setting  of  the  golden 
sun  to  sketch  the  landscape  when  lighted  up  with  rays 


4 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


still  glowing,  though  fast  fading  away — as  filial  rever- 
ence seeks  the  artist's  skill  to  portray  a  parent's  face 
while  expressions  of  the  past  yet  play  amid  the  wrinkles 
of  age;  or  as  the  Nestor  of  some  old  philosophy  en- 
circles it  with  the  last  halo  of  enthusiasm  ere  yet  new 
theories  are  called  to  occupy  the  uppermost  seats,"  so 
would  the  writer,  were  it  in  his  power,  present  the  feat- 
ures of  a  character  that  remains  and  perpetuate  the 
memories  that  linger  to  enshrine  the  man  who,  while 
living,  achieved  so  much  for  the  cause  of  Christ,  and 
who,  though  dead,  may  be  to  the  ministry  so  grand  an 
illustration  of  what  the  conscientious  application  of  all 
our  powers  to  our  appropriate  work  will  enable  us  to 
accomplish. 

In  a  record  prepared  by  himself  John  Price  Durbin 
says:  "  I  was  born  October  10,  1800,  in  Bourbon  County, 
Ky.,  three  miles  from  Paris.  My  paternal  grandfather 
was  from  Havre-de-Grace,  Md.  My  maternal  grand- 
father was  from  Georgia.  Both  their  families  settled 
in  Kentucky  among  the  first  who  immigrated  thither. 
They  were  of  industrious,  plain  habits,  and  hence  made 
a  comfortable  living  approaching  wealth.  My  maternal 
grandfather  and  family  were  among  the  first  Methodists 
in  Kentucky,  and  continue  to  this  day  (January  28, 1830). 

"  My  father,  Hozier  Durbin,  married  my  mother, 
Elizabeth  Xunn,  A.  D.  1799.  I  was  their  eldest  child. 
There  were  five  sons  of  us,  all  living  at  the  death  of 
my  father.  .  .  .  My  father  was  a  generous  and  highly 
honorable  man,  professing  no  religion.  His  fortunes 
were  ruined  by  the  faithlessness  of  friends  whom  he 
trusted.  .  .  .  He  died  suddenly  in  March,  1813,  and 
left  us  to  the  protection  of  my  mother  and  the  clem- 
ency of  the  world.  Fortunately,  she  was  a  woman  of 
*  extraordinary  constitution,  though  small  and  delicate  in 
appearance,  and  has  rarely  been  equaled  in  point  of  in- 


MEMOIR. 


5 


dustry,  perseverance,  economy,  and  the  government  of 
her  family.  In  the  last  particular  she  was  considered 
by  some  as  too  severe.  But  she  had  sons  to  rule  and 
none  to  help  her.  To  her  we  are  indebted  for  whatever 
we  have  of  morals,  industry,  or  a  sense  of  honor  and 
propriety.  I  can  never  think  of  her  but  with  gratitude 
and  wonder.  Assisted  in  some  degree  by  her  father, 
she  supported  us  by  her  own  industry  until  we  were  old 
enough  to  be  put  to  trades.  She  spun  and  wove  the  ma- 
terial for  our  clothes,  and,  when  woven,  made  them  with 
her  own  hands.  We  were  raised  before  the  simplicity 
of  the  West  yielded  to  the  extravagance  of  the  present 
day." 

In  the  History  of  Methodism  in  Kentucky,  by  Rev. 
A.  H.  Redford,  D.D.,  Vol.  I,  p.  316,  Dr.  Durbin  says, 
in  a  letter  of  March  5,  1868,  "My  mother  was  married 
to  Mr.  Theobold,  of  Grant  County,  Ky.  A  son  and 
daughter  were  the  fruit  of  that  marriage.  The  son  is, 
dead,  but  the  daughter,  now  Mrs.  Sayres,  of  Grant 
County,  is  still  living,  and  is  the  mother  of  a  large 
family  of  children." 

Again,  Dr.  Redford  says: 

"Among  the  distinguished  women  of  the  Methodist 
Church  in  Kentucky  no  one  presented  a  brighter  Chris- 
tian example  than  Mrs.  Durbin.  Devoted  to  the  Church 
of  her  choice,  as  well  as  to  the  common  cause  of  Chris- 
tianity, she  contributed  the  influence  of  a  holy  life  and 
a  liberal  hand  to  promote  the  great  ends  of  religion. 
Endowed  with  an  intellect  of  superior  cast,  with  a  heart 
sanctified  by  grace,  and  with  an  inflexible  purpose  to 
accomplish  the  highest  aims  and  ends  of  life,  whether 
by  the  bedside  of  affliction  or  in  her  own  family  circle, 
or  pouring  out  the  devotions  of  her  heart  around  the 
altars  of  the  Church,  she  seems  every-where  an  angel  of 
mercy.    Through  many  years  her  house  was  consecrated 


6 


JOHN  P.  DURBLV. 


to  God,  and  beneath  her  hospitable  roof  the  faithful 
minister  of  Christ  found  a  welcome  and  a  place  of  rest." 

In  a  brief  biography  written  by  her  pastor  soon  after 
her  death,  he  says:  "  Many  there  are  who  bless  God  that 
she  ever  lived.  Her  place  in  the  Church  and  family 
circle  cannot  be  easily  filled.  In  her  death  a  pillar  of 
Christianity  has  been  broken  and  a  moral  guiding  light 
extinguished.  Her  children  and  society  have  sustained 
a  loss  that  time  cannot  repair.  She  in  an  eminent  de- 
gree trained  up  her  children  in  '  the  way  they  should  go,' 
and  had  the  high  satisfaction  of  seeing  them  all  soundly 
converted  and  exemplary  members  of  the  Church,  while 
two  of  them  became  eloquent  ministers  of  the  Gospel 
of  Christ."  For  several  years  she  suffered  from  severe 
affliction,  yet  her  last  attack,  a  disease  of  the  throat, 
was  brief.  After  a  few  days'  illness  calmly  and  easily 
she  passed  away. 

r   In  the  record  kept  by  Dr.  Durbin,  he  says: 

"  As  I  advanced  to  manhood  my  mother,  of  course, 
became  more  infirm,  and,  as  if  by  common  consent,  the 
care  of  the  younger  brothers  devolved  on  me.  As  it 
was  very  evident  to  me  that  they  could  not  expect  to 
rank  in  point  of  inherited  fortunes  with  their  near  rela- 
tions I  determined  it  was  best  to  remove  them  from 
their  native  State  and  place  them  among  strangers.  I 
had  two  reasons  for  this: 

"  1.  For  fear  they  might  be  moved  by  some  disagree- 
able feeling  by  seeing  their  friends  growing  up  in  pros- 
pect of  better  fortunes,  and  to  which  they  might,  and 
justly  too,  feel  they  had  a  partial  claim,  which  I  foresaw 
never  could  be  realized. 

"2.  Because  I  had  seen  enough  of  the  world  to  know 
that  when  one's  fortune  depended  on  his  own  exertion 
he  is  more  successful  and  better  sustained  among 
strangers  than  among  friends  or  relations.     For  if 


MEMOIR. 


7 


among  his  relations  be  will  naturally  look  to  them  for 
some  support,  and  if  he  does  not  receive  it  he  feels 
grieved  and  injured.  Moreover,  when  among  strangers 
he  looks  for  no  indulgence  or  favors  other  than  such  as 
his  virtues,  industry,  and  success  may  authorize  him  to 
expect.  He  feels  himself  responsible  to  the  community 
and  dependent  on  himself  in  respect  to  his  conduct  and 
fortunes,  and  these  things  awaken  in  the  heart  feelings 
and  resolutions  and  energies  of  such  elevation  and 
character  as  cannot  be  felt  or  formed  by  the  person  who 
grows  up  in  prospect  of  ease  and  protection  in  the 
bosom  of  an  indulgent  family.  From  these  circumstan- 
ces I  thought  it  best  to  remove  my  brothers  from  the 
house  of  their  parents  and  scenes  of  their  childhood  that 
they  might,  as  I  have  done,  and  expect  always  to  do, 
try  their  fortunes  among  strangers,  and  make  and  keep 
friends  only  by  their  virtues  and  merits.  Nor  have  I 
been  disappointed  in  them  yet,  and  feel  pretty  well  as- 
sured that  even  my  best  wishes  will  be  realized  in  re- 
gard to  them. 

"The  same  course  should  be  pursued  in  reference  to 
all  youth,  no  matter  what  their  prospects  are.  Place 
them  in  circumstances  which  require  all  their  energies 
and  make  them  depend  on  themselves.  It  is  the  only 
possible  way  to  make  them  active,  efficient,  and  in- 
dustrious citizens,  and  to  prevent  them  from  being  de- 
based and  useless  drones,  an  expense  to  their  families, 
and  a  loss  to  the  community.  The  history  of  the 
brightest  gems  of  our  free  and  happy  country  will  at- 
test what  I  have  here  written." 

This  is  rare  reasoning  for  one  of  his  age.  The  polit- 
ical economist  who,  in  the  maturity  of  his  intellect  and 
the  most  careful  consideration  of  that  which  pertains  to 
a  State  or  a  nation,  reasons  out  safer  conclusions  than 
J.  P.  Durbin  reached  in  relation  to  the  best  temporal 


8 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


interests  of  his  brothers  and  young  men  in  general 
shows  a  wisdom  that  makes  him  worthy  of  his  exalted 
study. 

In  18G8  Dr.  Durbin  wrote,  "Myself  and  my  brother 
William  (third  son)  are  the  only  ones  living."  That 
brother  still  lives  in  the  State  of  Indiana  and  is  a  de- 
voted member  of  the  Church.  His  youngest  brother, 
Hozier  J.  Durbin,  was  a  member  of  the  Indiana  Con- 
ference, and  at  the  time  of  his  death  was  agent  of  the 
American  Bible  Society.  On  August  11,  1851,  while 
energetically  prosecuting  its  interests,  "he  was  killed  in 
a  storm  by  the  limb  of  a  tree  falling  on  him."  Before 
this  he  had  been  a  member  of  the  State  Legislature  in 
»  Indiana.  He  was  a  speaker  of  "  persuasive  eloquence  " 
and  a  "powerful  preacher." 

The  early  life  of  J.  P.  Durbin  w  as  spent  on  a  farm. 
"His  education  up  to  his  fourteenth  year  was  of  the 
commonest  kind  of  the  frontier.  When  fourteen  years 
old  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  cabinet-maker  in  Paris,  Ky., 
with  whom  he  remained  till  he  learned  the  trade." 

He  says,  "  About  my  eighteenth  year  I  became  per- 
manently serious  and  was  admitted  a  member  of  a  class, 
mainly  with  a  design,  as  I  afterward  learned,  to  procure 
a  recommendation  to  the  Quarterly  Meeting  Conference 
for  license  to  preach.  The  license  was  granted  on  No- 
vember 19,  1818,  and  signed  by  that  truly  good  and 
great  man,  Alexander  Cummings.  ...  On  Tuesday 
following  the  grant  of  my  license  to  preach  I  was  sent 
by  the  presiding  elder,  Mr.  Cummings,  to  Limestone 
Circuit,  in  the  Kentucky  Conference." 

He  was  converted  at  Riddle's  Mills;  but  "one  of  his 
young  friends  was  pungently  convicted,  struggled  hard 
and  long,  and  was  powerfully  and  suddenly  converted 
in  his  presence."  Durbin  assumed  that  his  experience 
must  be  of  the  same  kind  in  order  to  be  genuine  ;  but 


MEMOIR. 


9 


as  it  was  gradual  and  tranquil,  without  violent  signs, 
he  began  to  distrust  it,  when  by  a  gentle,  yet  clear  im- 
pression on  his  mind  he  was  convinced  that  "  God  for 
Christ's  sake  had  pardoned  his  sins  and  accepted  him  in 
the  Redeemer." 

The  Church  had  seen  his  change  of  life,  and  while  he 
hesitated  it  moved.  The  action  of  the  Quarterly  Con- 
ference, presided  over  by  such  a  man  as  tilled  the  chair, 
and  the  conduct  of  the  presiding  elder  in  placing  him 
immediately  on  a  circuit,  showed  remarkable  confidence 
in  his  character  and  talent,  and  also  illustrates  the  care 
with  which  the  Church  marked  its  material  for  the 
highest  service. 

Twelve  years  after  his  entrance  upon  the  itinerancy 
he  thus  writes:  "If  any  one  period  of  my  life  is  more 
dear  to  me  than  another  it  is  that  in  which  I  entered 
the  itinerancy.  I  can  never  reflect  on  the  incidents 
attending  it  without  gratitude.  The  impression  in  re- 
gard to  preaching  the  Gospel  fastened  on  my  mind  long 
before  I  became  permanently  serious.  This  may  seem 
strange ;  it  is  even  so  to  myself,  and  yet  it  is  true.  When 
I  was  very  young,  hearing  my  father  say  to  a  friend 
that  he  intended  to  make  me  a  physician,  I  asked  him 
if  a  doctor  could  be  a  preacher.  I  well  recollect  that  I 
concluded  in  my  own  mind  if  a  doctor  cannot  be  a 
preacher  I  will  not  be  a  doctor.  When  I  found  it  was 
necessaiy  to  go  to  a  trade,  I  did  it  cheerfully  ;  not  be- 
cause I  expected  to  get  my  living  by  it,  but  because  I 
found  it  was  the  only  way  in  which  I  could  pass  my 
time  satisfactorily  to  my  friends  or,  indeed,  as  things 
were,  to  myself.  I  therefore  learned  the  cabinet-mak- 
ing trade.  I  followed  it  to  some  profit  for  a  year  or 
more ;  but  during  the  last  year  I  had  but  little  peace, 
because  of  the  strong  impression  resting  on  my  mind  in 
regard  to  preaching  the  Gospel.    I  often  resolved  with 


10 


JOHN  P.  DURBIK 


myself  to  go  cheerfully,  but  as  often  proved  faithless 
to  my  resolutions.  At  length  I  resolved  when  a  certain 
engagement  was  out  I  would  disclose  my  mind  to  my 
elder  brethren  for  their  advice.*  But  I  failed,  and  was 
on  my  way  to  a  second  engagement  when,  walking 
alone  on  my  way,  I  felt  so  overcome  with  a  sense  of 
my  obstinacy  that  I  sat  down  by  the  way-side  and  wept 
until  the  sound  of  a  horseman  roused  me,  and  I  arose 
and  went  on.  This  engagement  lasted  about  a  month, 
after  which  I  returned  to  the  house  of  my  grandfather, 
Mr.  Ilai  Nunn. 

"  I  was  much  dejected,  which  he  observed,  and  said  to 
me,  'John,  tell  me  the  truth,  do  you  not  feel  that  you  are 
called  to  preach  the  Gospel  f  '  I  was  compelled  to  ac- 
knowledge it  with  tears,  perfectly  astonished  that  he  or 
any  other  being  should  have  suspected  any  thing  of  the 
kind.    He  then  gave  me  the  following  advice  : 

"  '  Go  and  explain  your  feelings  and  views  to  Mr. 
Lakin.  He  is  an  old  Methodist  traveling  preacher  of 
experience  and  good  judgment,  and  he  will  advise  you 
properly.' 

"1  took  his  advice  and  visited  the  Rev.  Benjamin 
Lakin,  and  found  him  in  his  bed  somewhat  unwell,  as 
he  was  then  worn  out  by  long  service  in  the  Church. 
He  was  one  of  the  first  Methodist  preachers  that  visited 
Kentucky.  It  was  his  custom  to  preach  in  the  dwell- 
ings of  those  who  would  give  permission,  and  he 
dressed,  as  the  people  generally  in  those  early  days, 
in  a  hunting-shirt,  wrappers  (or  leggings),  and  moc- 
casins. He  lived  to  see  the  Methodist  Church  numer- 
ous and  respectable,  and  spread  over  the  western  coun- 
try, and  still  lives,  enduring  patiently  the  frailties  of 
old  age  and  the  infirmities  brought  on  him  by  his  early 
and  continued  ministerial  labors.  The  name  of  Ben- 
jamin Lakin  is  dear  to  the  hearts  of  thousands,  and  is 


MEMOIR. 


1  1 


consecrated  in  my  memory  as  among  my  most  endear- 
ing recollections. 

"  When  I  was  shown  into  the  room  where  he  was  rest- 
ing, in  the  house  of  Mr.  Lakin,  of  Bourbon  County, 
Ky.,  the  old  man  of  God  arose  and  sat  on  the  side  of 
his  bed  and  read  the  letter  which  I  brought  from  my 
grandfather  with  tears  in  his  eyes.  After  some  con- 
versation he  said,  'I  advise  you,  first  of  all,  imitate  no 
person  in  the  style  and  manner  of  your  preaching;  copy 
not  their  tones  of  voice  nor  gesture;  study  to  speak  in 
that  style  and  manner,  accompanied  with  such  gesture, 
as  will  be  perfectly  natural  to  yourself.  Let  your 
whole  performance  be  that  of  animated  conversation, 
with  such  elevation  of  voice  as  will  be  suitable  to  the 
size  of  the  assembly.  Make  choice  of  plain  subjects, 
and,  of  course,  plain  texts,  and  endeavor  rather  to  illus- 
trate them  perspicuously  than  laboriously  and  finely. 
Recollect  that  you  should  benefit  the  great  body  of 
your  hearers  and  not  the  few.  Simplicity  and  utility 
are  the  best  traits  in  the  composition  and  delivery  of  a 
sermon.  These  two  properties  will  create  interest  and 
feeling;  and  in  order  to  give  full  effect  to  them,  with- 
out becoming  incoherent  and  wild,  you  must-  make, 
either  on  paper  or  in  your  own  mind,  a  draught  of  your 
discourse  before  you  go  into  the  pulpit,  containing  at  least 
the  general  propositions  and  outlines  of  the  subject — 
and,  if  it  be  a  difficult  one,  the  minor  points  and  principal 
arguments  in  brief — and  the  mind  will  well  recollect  and 
finish  them  out  when  you  come  to  preach.  Give  attention 
to  reading  also.  It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  one  can 
do  his  work  well  as  an  evangelist  who  is  not  studious. 
Study,  unaccompanied  by  religious  character  and  the 
call  of  God,  wiil  not  qualify  for  the  work  of  the  ministry ; 
neither,  on  the  other  hand,  is  religious  character  and  the 
call  of  God  sufficient  without  study.  Cultivate  your  own 


12 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


language  closely.  You  have  to  use  it  as  the  medium 
of  communication  to  sinners.  Cultivate  biblical  litera- 
ture as  of  the  first  importance,  but  by  husbanding  your 
time  you  will  find  opportunity  to  cultivate  every  branch 
of  literature  in  some  useful  degree.  And,  recollect, 
every  species  of  knowledge  is,  or  may  be,  useful  to  a 
minister.  Recollect  that  you  will  find  it  more  difficult 
to  command  your  time  than  any  thing  else,  because 
in  traveling  you  pass  into  different  lam i lies  every  day, 
and  each  will  regard  you  as  a  visitor,  a  guest,  not  recol- 
lecting that  you  are  always  somewhere  in  the  same 
character.  Resist  this  tax  on  your  time  prudently,  and 
they  will  shortly  see  you  inclined  to  improve  your  time 
and  talents,  and  will  also  see  the  good  effect  of  it  in 
your  ministry,  and  instead  of  complaining  of  you  as 
morose  and  churlish  they  will  approve,  and  assist  you 
by  providing  you  with  every  convenience  when  you 
come.  This  is  my  best  advice.  Go,  and  the  Lord  go 
with  you.'  Such  is  the  outline  of  the  advice  which 
this  excellent  man  gave  me.  It  is  true  that,  as  I  im- 
proved by  it  very  much,  I  have  added  a  little  by  way 
of  enlargement  as  the  result  of  my  own  experience. 
But  I  am  indebted  to  him  for  the  nucleus  around 
which  all  the  minor  points  are  associated." 

From  the  narrative  of  young  Durbin's  anxious  and 
painful  experience  concerning  his  duty  to  preach  and 
the  impression  he  made  on  those  who  best  knew  him 
we  can  judge  their  conduct  in  pressing  him  into  the 
work  in  which,  notwithstanding  his  convictions,  he  was 
so  slow  to  engage. 

That  his  grandfather,  a  man  of  commanding  influ- 
ence in  the  Church  and  in  the  community,  a  pioneer  of 
Methodism  in  Kentucky,  should  have  addressed  to  him 
the  searching  question  that  opened  up  the  whole  mat- 
ter of  his  solicitude,  is  evidence  how  God,  who  in 


MEMOIR. 


18 


ancient  times  "revealed  to  his  servants,"  still  holds 
such  access  to  their  minds  as  to  induce  conduct  that  is 
not  wholly  of  themselves. 

The  wisdom  of  Mr.  Nunn  in  sending  young  Durbin 
to  Mr.  Lakin  for  aid  in  his  perplexity  may  be  seen  in 
the  character  of  the  man  and  in  the  estimate  placed 
upon  his  counsel  by  the  inquirer. 

Mr.  Lakin  was  an  experienced  and  honored  minister 
in  Methodism.  He  understood  the  demands  made  upon 
a  young  preacher.  He  knew  his  difficulties  and  his 
dangers,  as  well  as  his  mental  and  moral  possibilities. 
He  had  a  clear  intellect,  and  was  a  calm  though  ear- 
nest thinker.  He  was  distinguished  by  conscientious- 
ness, by  self-sacrifice,  by  strong  faith  and  burning  zeal. 
He  had  industry  and  methodical  habits.  He  seemed 
to  be  steadily  governed  by  the  rule  of  our  Discipline, 
"Never  be  unemployed;  never  be  triflingly  employed." 
He  was  a  great  reader,  and  it  was  his  practice  to  make 
abstracts  and  write  an  analysis  of  the  books  he  studied. 
He  thus  accumulated  large  stores  of  knowledge.  He 
was  accustomed  to  prepare  notes  of  his  sermons,  and 
sometimes  wrote  them  "  in  full,"  but  only  to  impress 
them  perfectly  upon  his  mind.  With  energy  of  char- 
acter he  was  conservative.  He  had  marked  prudence, 
.and  his  executive  skill  inspired  confidence  in  his  adminis- 
tration. 

Such  facts  gave  force  to  his  advice,  as  his  practice 
was  an  illustration  of  the  principles  he  inculcated.  He 
retired  from  the  ministry  the  year  that  Durbin  en- 
tered it,  and  on  the  same  circuit.  He  died  February 
5,  1849,  in  the  eighty-second  year  of  his  age  and  in  the 
fifty-fifth  of  his  ministry.  Can  we  trace  any  resem- 
blance between  the  attributes  and  habits  of  the  coun- 
selor and  the  counseled  ? 

These  were  the  circumstances  under  which  the  Dur- 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


bin  of  eighteen  years,  in  a  few  days  after  his  connection 
with  the  Church,  entered  upon  the  Limestone  Circuit, 
where  he  labored  for  eight  months  with  Walter  Griffith 
as  preacher  in  charge.  In  later  life  he  said,  "  When 
I  look  back  at  this  period  of  my  ministerial  labors  I 
am  astonished  that  the  people  bore  with  me  at  all.  I 
was  young  and  inexperienced.  My  manners  must  have 
been  rude,  though,  I  presume,  artless  and  unpresuming. 
My  knowledge  of  divine  things  was  very  limited, 
and  my  manner  of  explaining  what  I  did  know  must 
have  been  unsatisfactory  to  a  great  many,  and  probably 
disgusting  to  some,  as  I  was  not  acquainted  with  the 
English  grammar.  My  reading  at  this  period  was  very 
limited  and  desultory.  I  had  no  system  for  study 
either  in  regard  to  books  or  time.  Hence  I  learned 
nothing,  or  very  little.  Yet  with  all  these  disadvan- 
tages it  pleased  the  Lord  to  bless  my  labors  in  some 
degree.  It  is  still  refreshing  to  me,  and  I  will  record 
it  here  for  the  comfort  of  others,  to  recall  one  inci- 
dent. I  had  been  absent  from  the  Limestone  Circuit 
several  years.  As  I  returned  to  see  my  friends  I  called 
on  my  friend  Johnston  Armstrong,  of  Maysville,  Ky., 
and  dined  with  him.  After  dinner  he  observed,  'I  have 
never  yet  told  yon  that  you  were  the  instrument  under 
God  of  my  conversion.  It  is  even  so.  I  shall  never, 
forget  it.  It  was  in  August,  in  the  old  white  church, 
the  last  sermon  you  preached  for  us.'  This  came  to 
my  pilgrim  heart  as  the  rain  to  the  parched  fields,  and 
I  thought  to  myself,  as  I  have  a  thousand  times,  the 
minister  of  Jesus  Christ  does  not,  nor  will  he  knowr,  the 
good  he  is  doing  in  this  wTorld  until  the  Lord  judges  the 
world  in  righteousness.  My  Brother  Armstrong  has  been 
an  ornament  to  his  profession  from  that  time  until  this. 
I  hope  he  may  be  faithful  unto  death  and  die  in  peace. 
"In  this  circuit  I  also  met  with  one  judicious  and 


MEMOIR. 


15 


faithful  friend,  Mr.  John  Todd,  formerly  of  Balti- 
more. He  was  then  a  journeyman  in  Maysville,  and 
very  remarkable  for  his  piety.  '  You  are  about,'  said 
Mr.  Todd  to  me,  1  to  leave  our  circuit.  You  are  now 
young,  and  should  seize  the  opportunity  of  improving 
your  mind  and  confirming  yourself  in  the  habits  of 
piety.  I  would  suggest  to  you  that  possibly  you  have 
been  too  conversant,  too  much  given  to  talk  with  all 
persons,  on  all  subjects,  and  in  all  places.  It  is  diffi- 
cult to  break  our  habits  with  old  acquaintances,  but 
recollect  when  you  go  to  a  new  circuit  you  will  be  a 
stranger.  Begin  from  the  first  to  rule  yourself  down 
to  a  few  words,  and  even  this  only  on  necessary  occa- 
sions. Make  a  good  selection  of  books  to  read  and 
devote  yourself  to  reading  and  prayer.  Read  one  book 
at  a  time ;  read  all  of  it  and  read  it  carefully.  Study 
the  English  language  closely,  and  make  yourself  master 
of  a  perspicuous,  correct,  and  strong  style.' 

"  This  is  about  the  substance  of  the  advice  which  I 
received  from  this  young  man.  It  was  of  much  service 
to  me.  Connected  with  a  few  other  circumstances  this 
advice  directed  my  course  chiefly  during  the  next  year." 

The  means  of  education  that  society  affords  to  one 
disposed  to  learn  are  incalculable,  and  the  readiness  that 
the  capable  show  in  contributing  to  the  worthy  ends  of 
the  modest  and  meritorious  is  one  of  the  greatest  ad- 
vantages of  human  intercourse.  Durbin  found  friends 
in  every  place  and  sphere.  The  supply  seemed  equal  to 
the  demand.  Where  the  least  hope  might  have  been 
cherished  the  most  positive  benefit  was  bestowed.  He 
was  eager  to  learn,  and  his  receptivity  was  equal  to  his 
need.  A  hint  was  help.  With  him  life  presented  not 
the  question  of  ease,  but  of  possibilities  and  duty.  His 
ambition  was  sanctified,  and  his  auxiliaries  sustained 
his  purpose. 


16 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


How  unlooked-for  and  yet  how  valuable  was  the  coun- 
sel of  his  "journeyman  friend !  "  That  Mr.  Todd  knew  so 
well  the  wise  course  for  a  young  preacher  to  take  as  to 
conversation,  reading,  and  style,  is  evidence  how  closely 
we  may  be  criticised  and  how  accurately  we  may  be 
judged  by  persons  who  rarely  approach  us  to  tell  us  our 
faults  and  "  show  us  how  to  mend."  Nor  can  we  fail 
to  think,  if  young  Durbin  was  ever  addicted  to  the 
things  named  by  Mr.  Todd,  either  the  remarks  of  his 
friend  or  his  own  reasoning  made  a  complete  change. 
His  life,  as  we  knew  it,  showed  an  utter  freedom  from 
such  tendencies  as  here  became  matters  of  caution. 
How  refined  and  judicious  was  the  statement  of  the  dif- 
ficulty of  some  of  the  changes  named,  and  how  intelli- 
gent was  his  recognition  of  the  advantages  that  our 
itinerancy  affords  to  one  who  enters  on  a  new  course! 

Did  ever  student  from  college  or  yonng  man  from  the 
office  of  his  preceptor  more  fully  exhibit  the  impress  of 
character  or  wisdom  that  such  contact  gives  ? 

On  this  circuit  it  must  have  been  that,  from  vehemence 
in  delivery,  he  failed  in  voice  and  health ;  returning  to 
his  home  with  the  apprehension  that  his  ministry  had 
ended.  Another  friend  opportunely  appeared,  and  ad- 
vised him  to  visit  the  cabins  of  the  colored  people  and 
talk  religion  to  them.  Again  he  accepted  counsel  and 
found  the  benefit.  In  six  months  his  voice  could  fill 
the  largest  house,  and  he  resumed  his  work. 


MEMOIR. 


17 


CHAPTER  II. 

Greenville  Circuit,  Lawrenceburg,  Hamilton, 
Zanesville,  Lebanon,  Cincinnati. 

HE  says :  "I  was  appointed  in  the  summer  of  1819  to 
Greenville  Circuit,  which  lay  in  the  north-west  part 
of  Ohio,  and  was  at  that  time  a  frontier  settlement, 
and  bordered  on  the  Indians.  It  was  my  first  appoint- 
ment from  the  Conference,  and  I  was  alone,  of  course,  in 
charge.  From  the  circuit  I  received  in  all  about  fifty-five 
dollars  in  depreciated  paper,  worth  about  seventy-five 
cents  on  the  dollar."  Through  the  kindness  of  Judge 
J.  Chambers,  of  Eaton,  O.,  the  writer  is  furnished  with 
a  transcript  of  the  second  Quarterly  Conference  of  the 
year,  when  Walter  Griffith  was  president  and  J.  P. 
Durbin  acted  as  secretary.  The  minutes  are  in  his  own 
hand,  as  now  contained  in  the  stewards'  book.  The 
members  present  are  distinguished  by  capital  letters 
opposite  their  names.  Thus,  J.  P.  Durbin,  T.  P.;  Will- 
iam Stubbs,  L.  P. ;  James  Dwiggins,  C.  L.  The  stewards 
are  Henry  Eidson,  Daniel  Lease.  The  salary  of  J.  P. 
Durbin  is  thus  rendered:  "From  August  1819,  to 
August  1820,  $48  62 i"  Mr.  Durbin  says:  "I  found 
about  140  members  on  this  circuit.  The  country  was 
very  new,  very  few  houses  which  had  more  than  one 
room — log-cabins  not  exceeding  twenty  feet  square. 
In  this  one  room  frequently  a  whole  family,  consisting 
of  six,  eight,  ten,  or  a  dozen  sons  and  daughters,  as  well 
as  myself,  ate  and  lodged,  and  in  the  winter  all  the  cook- 
ing was  done  here.  This  was  used  for  chapel,  parlor, 
3 


18 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


kitchen,  dining-room,  and  chamber  for  the  whole  fam- 
ily. As  would  be  naturally  supposed,  the  fare  was 
coarse.  Sometimes  I  could  not  tell  whether  to  call  what 
I  was  drinking  tea  or  coffee,  nor  what  it  was  made  of. 
To  some  persons  this  would  be  a  gloomy  prospect;  but 
nil  this  was  counterbalanced  by  the  cordiality  with 
which  they  received  me  and  the  cheer  and  pleasure 
with  which  they  offered  me  what  they  had."  There 
were  very  few  appointments  except  at  private  houses 
such  as  have  been  named,  with  all  their  inmates  and  dis- 
comforts; but  he  found  treasures  of  knowledge  that 
were  to  him  more  than  homes  of  capacity  and  splendor. 
On  this  circuit  was  an  old  German  who  was  not  too 
poor  to  have  Clarke's  Commentary  in  numbers.  These 
he  borrowed,  and  slipped  two  numbers  at  a  time  into  a 
tin  canister  about  four  inches  in  diameter  and  lashed  it 
behind  his  saddle,  and  thus  carried  it  around  his  circuit. 
As  soon  as  preaching  was  over  and  the  class  dismissed 
he  sat  down  in  the  midst  of  a  frontier  family  with  pen 
and  ink  to  study  and  take  notes  of  Clarke.  His  own 
words  are,  "During  that  year  I  studied  English  gram- 
mar considerably,  and  read  all  of  Mr.  Wesley's  and 
Fletcher's  Works,  and  Dr.  Clarke's  notes  on  the  Penta- 
teuch and  New  Testament,  and  Josephus.  All  these 
works  I  read  closely  and  made  abstracts  in  my  own  lan- 
guage from  them.  This  exercise  gave  me  two  great 
advantages;  namely,  First,  it  fixed  the  sentiments  of 
the  authors  in  my  mind.  Second,  it  gave  me  a  habit  of 
composition,  and,  by  consequence,  a  command  of  lan- 
guage. But  some  might  be  at  a  loss  to  know  how  I 
found  time  and  means  in  such  a  circuit  to  read  so  much. 
I  answer  thus : 

"  1.  I  made  it  a  rule  to  go  to  bed  at  nine  and  rise  at 
five.    This  gave  me  sixteen  hours  for  business. 

"2.  I  made  it  a  rule  to  be  ready  to  read  at  six, 


MEMOIR. 


19 


after  having  washed,  said  my  prayers,  and  taken  a 
walk. 

"  3.  I  made  it  a  rule  always  to  have  my  books,  paper, 
pen,  and  ink  at  hand. 

"4.  I  made  it  a  rule  immediately  after  preaching  to 
sit  down  to  read,  even  before  dinner,  or  while  the  peo- 
ple were  not  yet  all  gone;  and  if  any  wished  to  talk 
with  me  merely  out  of  civility  or  sociability,  and  not 
on  necessary  business,  I  gave  them  so  careless  an  answer, 
continuing  to  read  at  the  same  time,  that,  after  making 
repeated  trials  to  converse  with  me  without  effect,  they 
departed. 

"  5.  When  the  people  saw  that  I  was  bent  on  improv- 
ing my  time,  instead  of  being  offended  they  seemed 
pleased,  and  afforded  me  every  facility  in  their  power, 
such  as  the  following:  lent  me  books,  provided  me 
candles,  and  when  this  could  not  be  done  provided  dry 
wood  or  bark  to  give  light,  gave  me  a  room  to  myself, 
or,  when  they  had  no  room  to  give,  ruled  the  children 
into  silence  that  I  might  have  an  opportunity  to  read. 

"Under  these  regulations  I  prospered  much  in  knowl- 
edge and  piety,  and  came  to  Conference  with  a  good 
report. 

"  While  on  Greenville  Circuit  I  was  compelled  to 
study  and  defend  the  character  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  against  the  Arians,  called  in  that  country  New- 
Lights.  They  were  numerous  in  that  part  of  the  coun- 
try, having  settled  it  principally  from  Kentucky,  where 
the  sect  first  took  its  rise  among  the  Presbyterians 
of  Bourbon  County,  in  a  neighborhood  called  Cain 
Ridge.  There  was  a  large  sacramental  meeting 
among  them.  The  Lord  visited  them  wonderfully  ;  it 
insensibly  and  without  design  grew  into  a  camp-meeting, 
and  the  people  remained  for  seven  or  eight  days.  At 
this  meeting  began  the  inexplicable  exercise  called 


20 


JOHN  P.  DURB1N. 


jerks.  It  was  involuntary,  and  in  some  cases  so  violent 
that  two  or  three  strong  men  could  not  confine  one 
female,  and  if  they  did  attempt  to  hold  her  it  always 
caused  a  great  soreness  to  her.  In  some  instances  the 
arms  would  be  violently  thrust  forward  and  backward 
alternately — that  is,  one  arm  forward,  the  other  at 
the  same  time  backward.  Sometimes,  and  most  gen- 
erally, I  believe,  the  head  would  be  violently  and  quickly 
thrown  backward  and  forward,  moving  on  the  shoulders 
(the  shoulders  also  moving  in  the  same  direction  slightly) 
with  such  velocity  that  the  hair  of  females  wpuld  come 
down,  and  when  loose  crack  like  a  whip,  and  with  such 
force  as  to  draw  the  blood  from  the  face  of  the  by- 
stander if  it  cut  it.  The  strongest  and  most  wicked 
men  were  equally  subject  to  it  with  the  weakest  and 
most  superstitious  females.  It  would  generally  come  on 
suddenly,  frequently  when  the  person  was  not  in  any 
religious  assembly,  and  sometimes  when  alone,  engaged 
in  ordinary  employment.  Some  would  be  silent  and 
appear  sullen,  some  resigned,  and  some  mortified;  some 
would  be  enraged  and  swear  profanely;  all  dreaded  the 
exercise.  It  is  said  that  it  first  seized  a  Presbyterian 
minister  while  preaching.  It  was  not  confined  to  any 
denomination.  There  was  certainly  no  advantage  in  a 
religious  point  of  view  in  being  the  subject  of  it,  nor 
was  it  peculiar  to  the  religious.  Physicians  examined 
the  subjects  both  during  the  paroxysms  and  afterward, 
and  in  some  instances  gave  medicine,  but  without  effect. 
I  have  never  been  the  subject  of  it,  but  I  have  witnessed 
it,  and  asked  others  who  had  been  the  subjects  in  regard 
to  their  feelings  and  views,  but  could  never  obtain  any 
satisfaction.  All  declared  it  involuntary  and  inexplic- 
able and  painful.  Some  have  been  known  to  be  jerked 
to  the  ground  in  an  instant,  others  have  laid  hold  of 
trees  and  have  been  jerked  round  them  until  they  were 


MEMOIR. 


21 


literally  belabored  and  the  tree  partially  lashed.  These 
are  the  facts;  the  explanation  I  leave  to  others." 

The  writer  has  at  various  times  and  from  different  per- 
sons had  some  account  of  the  exercise  called  "jerks." 
Some  thirty-seven  years  ago  he  had  a  strong  and 
strange  statement  from  a  Presbyterian  minister  who 
had  been  in  the  West  and  was  supposed  to  have 
knowledge  of  what  he  spoke.  But  at  no  time  has  he 
had  so  minute,  comprehensive,  and  graphic  a  narrative 
of  the  operations  as  that  furnished  by  Mr.  Durbin.  The 
account  comes  to  us,!in  th»  present  instance,  in  a  way  to 
admit  no  question  as  to  its  certainty.  Whatever  may 
have  been  the  cause,  Mr.  Durbin  both  witnessed  the 
affection  and  inquired  of  those  who  were  its  subjects. 
A  more  competent  witness  or  calmer  investigator  of  the 
facts  might  not  be  found.  In  vain  would  we  search  for 
a  trace  of  superstition  or  fanaticism  in  him.  If  the 
physicians  who  examined  and  tried  to  treat  the  cases 
could  not  by  their  knowledge  of  the  human  system  and 
its  liability  to  be  operated  on  by  external  forces  and 
influences  ;  if  from  their  study  of  physiology  and  psy- 
chology, or  from  any  science,  observation,  or  experience 
that  they  had  to  help  them,  they  were  unable  to  ex- 
plain the  phenomenon,  and  if  Mr.  Durbin  called  the 
affection  "inexplicable,"  we  certainly  shall  not  attempt 
to  do  more  than  he  or  the  physicians  could  accomplish. 
We  may  have  as  good  a  right,  if  we  have  equal  intelli- 
gence, to  render  a  judgment  as  to  the  cause  as  those  of 
that  day.  With  no  more  science  and  knowledge  of  the 
human  system,  and  no  better  acquaintance  with  the  facts, 
we  may  be  alike  unable  to  satisfy  the  mind. 

At  this  same  meeting  five  or  six  Presbyterian  minis- 
ters took  the  incipient  steps  which  led  to  their  separa- 
tion from  their  brethren  and  to  the  formation  of  a  new 
sect  called  "  New  Lights."  They  were  Arians  in  doctrine. 


22 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX 


Of  these  ministers  all  except  one  or  two  returned  to  the 
Presbyterian  Church.  They  had  a  considerable  follow- 
ing in  die  West.  Their  preachers  laid  down  these  two 
great  rules  of  action  : 

^  1.  Human  creeds  are  injurious  to  religion.  Hence, 

2.  That  they  should  not  dwell  on  the  controverted 
points  in  theology  in  their  ministrations,  or  but  very 
rarely.  As  a  consequence  of  these  things  there  was  no 
consistency  or  uniformity  in  their  religious  opinions;  nor 
did  the  people  generally  seem  disposed  to  believe  them. 
Many  of  their  people  were  not  Arians  in  sentiment. 
This  state  of  things  continued  more  or  less  for  above 
twenty  years. 

"  At  the  time  I  was  on  Greenville  Circuit,"  says  Durbin, 
"  their  sentiments  began  to  assume  tangible  form  and 
the  people  to  be  sensible  of  the  difference  between  the 
New  Lights  and  others.  This  difference  became  more 
apparent  as  it  regards  the  Methodists  from  the  following 
circumstance.  I  had  an  appointment  in  the  court- 
house in  Eaton,  Preble  Circuit,  O.  At  the  same  hour 
*an  elderly  gentleman,  Mr.  David  P.,  had  one  in  the 
same  place.  As  I  had  the  prior  appointment  I  proffered 
to  Mr.  P.  to  preach  first.  He  did  so,  and  devoted  two 
hours  and  some  minutes  in  attempting  to  prove  that 
Jesus  Christ  was  not  even  the  thirtieth  part  of  a  god. 
This  doctrine  he  said  he  had  believed  for  twenty  years, 
but  he  had  not  been  in  the  habit  of  proclaiming  it. 
During  his  sermon  I  felt  alarmed,  being  very  young 
and  inexperienced,  and  he  aged  and  wise.  But  when 
he  said:  'Some  indeed  affirm  that  our  Saviour  had,  and 
has  yet,  two  whole  and  perfect  natures  in  his  person, 
namely,  godhead  and  manhood,'  and  '  If  this  could  be 
proven  then  would  I  instantly  give  up  the  point  and 
yield  to  the  doctrine  of  a  trinity:'  it  instantly  occurred 
to  me  that  the  Scriptures  were  explicit  on  this  point, 


MEMOIR. 


and  the  following  passage,  among  others,  came  to  my 
mind:  'Of  whom,  as  concerning  the  flesh,  Christ  came' 
— here  is  his  humanity;  '  who  is  God  over  all,  blessed 
for  evermore ' — here  is  his  divinity.  Instantly  a  flood 
of  light  burst  on  my  mind,  and  I  have  not  been  embar- 
rassed since.  I  rose  after  he  had  concluded  and  made  a 
few  remarks.  Since  that  time  I  have  pursued  the  light 
which  I  thus  received,  and  have  found,  on  close  exami- 
nation, that  the  Scriptures  which  speak  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  may  be  classed  under  three  heads,  by  observing 
which  the  reader  will  find  them  free  from  confusion 
and  contradiction  : 

"  1.  Sometimes  they  speak  of  our  Lord  as  a  mere  man, 
having  reference  to  his  human  nature,  as  when  they 
say,  'he  wept,'  'he  hungered,'  'he  knew  not,  but  the 
Father,'  or  any  other  expression  which  implied  or  ex- 
pressed his  inferiority. 

"  2.  Sometimes  they  speak  of  our  Lord  as  the  true 
God,  as  when  he  says  of  himself,  'I  am  the  Almighty,1 
'  the  first  and  the  last,'  '  the  Alpha  and  Omega,'  and 
when  John  says,  'The  Word  was  God,'  and  when  he  is 
presented  as  the  object  of  worship,  etc. 

"  3.  Sometimes  they  speak  of  our  Lord  as  having  both 
natures  combined,  as  'Who  was  the  son  of  David,  ac- 
cording to  the  flesh ' — here  is  his  humanity  ;  '  declared 
to  be  the  Son  of  God  with  power  according  to  the  spirit 
of  holiness' — here  is  his  divinity.  Again:  'Of  whom, 
as  concerning  the  flesh,  Christ  came' — here  is  his  hu- 
manity ;  '  who  is  God  over  all,  blessed  for  evermore ' — 
here  is  his  divinity.  By  observing  these  simple  distinc- 
tions in  the  Sciptures  you  will  discover  the  most  per- 
fect harmony  running  throughout  them.  I  once  made 
this  statement  at  a  camp-meeting  where  was  one  of  our 
oldest  and  best  local  preachers,  who  had  once  been  ex- 
pelled the  Church  for  his  Arian  opinions,  but  came 


24 


JOHN  P.  DUEBIX 


back  again  and  promised  to  be  silent  in  regard  to  them, 
and  was  restored.  He  continued  to  be  embarrassed 
with  his  difficulties  on  these  points  until  he  heard  this 
simple  analysis  of  the  Scriptures  in  reference  to  our 
Lord,  which  I  gave  on  that  occasion.  The  moment 
he  heard  it  his  eyes  overflowed,  his  countenance  lighted 
up  with  joy,  and  from  that  hour  he  has  been  unembar- 
rassed. The  thing  is  so  simple.  The  three  classes  of 
Scripture  sustain  the  three  corresponding  proposi- 
tions: 

"  1.  Our  Lord  Jesus  is  really  and  truly  man. 
"  2.  Our  Lord  Jesus  is  really  and  truly  God. 
"  3.  Our  Lord  Jesus  is  really  and  truly  both  God  and 
man." 

In  1820  he  was  appointed  to  Lawrenceburg,  Ind.  He 
says:  "My  colleague  this  year  was  James  Collord,  a 
truly  worthy  and  pious  man,  who  entered  the  traveling 
connection  a  young  married  man  with  a  growing  fam- 
ily, and  traveled  five  years  without  receiving  $500  in 
that  time.  The  consequence  was  he  had  to  locate, 
and  returned  to  New  York  and  engaged  in  business. 
I  recollect  well  the  Saturday  evening  on  which  I  ar- 
rived in  the  circuit.  The  first  appointment  was  in 
Lawrenceburg.  The  sun  shone  on  the  two  small 
steeples,  one  on  a  tavern,  the  other  on  the  court-house, 
and  gleamed  at  a  distance  on  the  eye  of  the  traveler  as 
he  gazed  on  them  from  Hardentown,  two  miles  above 
Lawrenceburg,  on  the  Big  Bottom.  I  called  at  the 
house  of  my  much-esteemed  friend,  Isaac  Dunn,  Esq., 
who  has  long  been  a  pillar  in  the  church  there.  Him- 
self and  Mrs.  Dunn  were  not  at  home,  but  returned  in 
an  hour  or  two.  They  received  me  kindly,  though  they 
had  not  much  confidence  in  our  religious  prospects.  We 
performed  service  in  the  court-house,  having  no  church 
at  that  time.    But  before  our  Conference  year  was  out 


MEMOIR. 


25 


we  had  large  additions  to  our  society,  and  the  founda- 
tion of  an  excellent  brick  chapel  was  laid. 

"  This  was  a  year  of  great  prosperity  and  peace  to  us 
all.  I  was  much  indebted  to  rny  colleague,  who  was  a 
critical  English  scholar,  for  his  assistance  and  encour- 
agement in  the  study  of  the  English  grammar.  I  not 
only  attempted  to  learn  the  rules,  so  as  to  parse  accu- 
rately, but  I  endeavoredyhoth  in  composition  and  public 
speaking,  to  be  always  correct.  Thus  I  improved  my 
style  and  corrected  early-contracted  improprieties. 

"  While  on  this  circuit  I  was  in  the  habit  of  carrying 
with  me  always  a  number  of  religious  tracts,  purchased 
at  my  own  expense,  in  order  to  distribute  as  I  found 
occasion.  Sometimes  I  would  inclose  them  in  a  letter 
form,  sometimes  drop  them  in  the  path  when  I  saw 
some  one  coming,  and  sometimes  give  them  personally. 
I  recollect  on  one  occasion  to  have  called  to  a  young 
man  who  was  plowing  in  the  field  as  I  rode  by,  and 
asked  him  if  he  would  have  a  book.  He  answered  he 
had  no  money  to  pay  for  it.  I  asked  him  if  he  would 
read  one  if  I  would  give  it  to  him.  He  answered  he 
would.  I  gave  him  four  tracts.  This  I  was  induced  to 
do  partly  because  I  had  seen  him  in  class-meeting  the 
day  before  and  he  seemed  to  be  serious.  I  saw  no  more 
of  the  young  man  until  some  years  after,  when,  dining 
in  Cincinnati  at  a  friend's  house,  a  young  man  sat  oppo- 
site to  me  and  seemed  to  regard  me  very  earnestly.  At 
length  he  observed, '  I  presume  you  have  forgotten  me, 
Mr.  Durbin,  but  I  have  not  forgotten  you.'  I  observed 
I  believed  I  had  not  the  pleasure  of  recollecting  him. 
4  Do  you  not,'  said  he,  '  recollect  the  young  man  to 
whom  you  gave  the  tracts  while  plowing  in  the  field  ? 
I  am  he.  From  that  day  I  have  sought  the  Lord  in  ear- 
nest, and  have  attached  myself  to  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church.'  " 


26 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


Durbin  says  of  Greenville  and  Lawrenceburg  circuits: 
"They  were  comparatively  new,  and  had  few  appoint- 
ments except  in  private  houses,"  and  these  such  as  have 
been  described,  with  fare  of  kindred  character.  But  then, 
he  writes,  "  I  have  reckoned,  and  do  still  reckon,  these 
years  the  best  of  my  life.  In  them  I  made  as  much  prog 
ress  in  divine  things  as  in  any  other,  and  did  as  much 
good,  apparently.  I  ever  found  it  convenient  to  read 
much,  notwithstanding  I  had  no  apartment  to  retire  to. 
. .  .  My  manner  of  reading  was  this:  I  always  read  but  one 
book  at  a  time  besides  the  Bible.  I  did  not  even  allow 
myself  to  read  a  newspaper.  I  took  care  to  read  this 
one  book  carefully,  noting  down  its  contents  briefly 
with  my  pen.  ...  I  did  not  wait  for  an  opportunity 
to  read,  but  always  made  one.  In  this  way  I  proceeded, 
generally  reading  500  or  600  pages  a  week,  besides  the 
Bible. 

"  I  am  aware  that  many  young  men  among  us  say  they 
cannot  find  time  and  opportunity  to  read,  write,  and 
study.  I  have  detailed  the  manner  in  which  I  found 
it.  They  could  do  the  same,  and  I  may  add  they 
must  do  the  same,  or  they  cannot  do  the  work  of  the 
Lord  as  they  ought  to  do  it. 

"One  of  the  injunctions  of  Paul  to  Timothy  was, 
'  Give  attention  to  reading.' 

"In  the  fall  of  1K21  I  was  appointed  to  Hamilton 
Station,  Ohio  Conference.  Methodism  had  just  been 
planted  there,  and  the  society  had  built  them  a  neat 
little  church.  We  had  a  peaceful,  prosperous  year  in 
our  Zion. 

"  At  the  instance  of  Dr.  Martin  Rater  I  commenced 
the  study  of  the  Latin  grammar  ami  language.  I  com- 
mitted the  grammar  well,  and  immediately  commenced 
reading  Virgil's  works,  reciting  once  a  day  to  Mr. 
Monfort,  a  Presbyterian  minister.    I  pursued  this  course 


MEMOIR. 


27 


for  some  time  and  then  declined  reciting,  and  read  and 
studied  without  assistance  from  any  person.  .  .  .This 
year  I  read  Virgil's  works  and  committed  the  Greek 
grammar  to  memory  and  commenced  reading  the  Greek 
Testament.  I  read  also  Newton  on  the  Prophecies  and 
some  other  works."  While  at  Hamilton  he  studied  in 
the  Miami  University,  and  returned  to  his  charge,  a  dis- 
tance of  twelve  miles,  on  Friday  afternoon. 

"I  cannot  omit  recording  a  little  incident  which  hap- 
pened this  year,  and  in  order  to  make  it  understood,  I 
must  give  the  proper  preface.  The  society  being  small  it 
was  quite  an  effort  to  support  their  preacher.  Mr.  Jo- 
seph Hough,  a  merchant  in  the  place,  as  his  wife  was  a 
member,  was  in  the  habit  of  inviting  the  preacher  to 
live  with  him  the  principal  part  of  the  year  without 
any  charge  whatever.  After  I  had  been  in  the  station 
some  weeks  he  called  and  invited  me  to  come  and  spend 
some  time  with  his  family.  I  complied.  Of  course  I 
had  family  prayer  in  his  house.  At  first,  having  been 
raised  a  Quaker,  he  would  stand  up  very  respectfully ; 
after  a  little  he  kneeled  down  on  one  knee;  then  at  last 
he  kneeled  down  on  both,  as  did  the  rest  of  us.  Cold 
weather  came  on.  His  ice-house  stood  in  his  back  yard. 
They  were  filling  the  house  one  day  with  ice,  and  Mr. 
Hough  was  in  the  house  packing  the  ice  away.  There 
wras  a  long  plank  from  the  wagon  to  the  bottom  of  the 
ice-house,  or  rather  to  the  surface  of  the  last  layer  of  ice, 
down  which  plank  the  ice  was  slid  into  the  house.  Some 
person  engaged  in  the  wagon  in  sliding  the  ice  down 
the  plank  threw  it  against  Mr.  Hough's  foot  and  injured 
it  severely.  Mr.  Hough,  upon  receiving  the  injury, 
swore  at  the  man  profanely.  But  at  that  moment  I 
happened  to  be  passing  the  ice-house,  and  looking  in  at 
the  door,  beheld  Mr.  Hough  without  his  perceiving  me, 
and  heard  him  swear.    I  said  not  a  word,  but  passed  on 


28 


JOHX  P.  LURBIN. 


unobserved  by  him.  On  the  Saturday  evening  follow- 
ing he  came  into  rny  room  (which  he  kindly  afforded 
me,  with  every  convenience)  and  sat  down  and  engaged 
in  conversation,  during  which  I  observed  (not  knowing 
he  was  accustomed  to  use  profane  language),  '  Did  I 
not  hear  you  swear  in  the  ice-house,  Mr.  Hough  ? ' 
He  smiled,  with  a  little  flush  on  his  countenance,  and 
answered,  '  he  thought  it  was  probable  he  did,  as  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  swearing  without  knowing  at  all 
times  when  he  did  it,  and  I  remember  I  did  at  the  ice- 
house, when  one  of  the  hands  threw  a  piece  of  ice 
against  my  foot  and  hurt  me.  But  I  know  it  is  a  very 
unbecoming  and  ungentlemanly  practice,  and  I  wish  I 
could  quit  it ;  but  I  am  inclined  to  think  I  cannot, 
as  I  do  it  unconsciously  from  habit.'  I  then  urged  him 
to  try.  After  some  conversation  he  said,  'I  will  try, 
and  will  inform  vou  next  Saturday  how  I  succeed.' 
Next  Saturday  came,  and  in  the  evening  he  came  into 
my  room  and  sat  down.  There  was  a  mixture  of  serious- 
ness and  lightness  and  an  inclination  to  smile,  and  he 
was  evidently  a  little  agitated.  I  said  nothing  on  the 
subject  of  swearing,  and  he  also  was  silent  for  some 
time.  At  length  he  said,  '  I  have  come  to  tell  you 
that  I  have  sworn  twice  since  I  was  here  ;  but  I  am  de- 
termined to  quit  it;  I  am  more  and  more  dissatisfied 
with  the  practice.'  As  he  said  this  he  seemed  morti- 
fied and  concerned,  and  I  immediately  replied,  '  You 
cannot  cease  from  profane  language  unless  you  will 
pray.''  'iPray  ! '  said  he;  *  I  never  prayed  in  my  life  ;  I 
was  never  on  my  knees  in  my  life  but  once,  and  that 
was  to  gratify  Parson  Wallace,  and  I  then  laughed  the 
whole  time.'  Indeed,  he  seemed  a  little  amused  at  the 
idea  of  his  praying.  I  insisted  he  could  not  cease  to 
swear  unless  he  would  use  prayer.  He  became  silent, 
and  alternately  thoughtful  and  amused.    At  length  he 


MEMOIR. 


29 


said,  *  I  will  try  to  pray  once  if  you  will  never  mention 
it.'  1  Very  good,'  said  I,  and  we  parted.  '  Two  or 
three  days  afterward  he  came  into  my  room,  and  sitting 
silently  a  few  minutes,  he  said,  smilingly,  '  I  told  you  I 
could  not  pray;  I  have  tried  twice,  and  when  I  kneeled 
down  1  could  not  utter  a  word.  I  knew  I  could  not  be- 
fore.' While  he  was  saying  these  things  I  could  perceive 
an  increased  concern  in  his  countenance;  I  therefore  in- 
sisted on  his  continuing  his  efforts,  which  he  did,  in- 
creasing every  day  in  earnestness,  until  in  less  than  three 
months  he  was  a  member  of  the  Methodist  Church,  and 
was  such  the  last  time  I  saw  him. 

"This  circumstance,  as  well  as  several  others,  con- 
firmed me  in  the  opinion  that  the  smallest  beginning 
in  religious  matters  should  not  be  disregarded,  but  sed- 
ulously cherished,  both  by  the  subject  of  them  and  the 
minister  of  religion. 

"  In  the  fall  of  1822  I  was  appointed  at  the  Marietta 
Conference  to  Zanesville  Station,  though  I  shared 
the  station  with  Brother  B.  Westlake,  owing  to  the 
illness  of  his  family.  Hence  I  was  on  Zanesville  Circuit 
half  the  time.  I  was  informed  that  this  appointment 
was  made  with  design  to  promote  the  gracious  work 
which  was  begun  in  Zanesville.  The  year  was  not  so 
prosperous  as  I  could  have  wished,  notwithstanding 
we  had  precious  seasons.  I  found  in  this  station,  as  is 
the  case  in  all  large  societies,  a  few  turbulent  spirits, 
and  their  course  since  is  an  additional  proof  of  an  al- 
most well  ascertained  fact,  that  such  never  can  be  at 
pea?ce,  not  even  if  they  be  first  in  all  things.  They 
have  since  withdrawn  and  associated  themselves  with 
the  radicals  of  the  present  age  of  the  Church.  These 
have  taken  the  denomination,  '  Associate  Methodist 
Society.' 

"I  cannot  omit  to  record  the  name,  services,  and  friend- 


30 


JOHN  P.  DURB1X. 


ship  of  Brother  David  Young,  all  of  which  are  associ- 
ated with  the  events  of  this  year.  A  good  understand- 
ing well  improved,  and  deep  piety,  made  him  a  desirable 
acquaintance.  His  experience  and  sincerity  made  him 
a  valuable  friend.  He  admonished  me  of  my  errors  in 
preaching,  specially  in  manner  and  length;  he  also 
taught  me  the  proper  principles  of  the  composition  of 
a  sermon,  and  added  to  his  own  remarks  a  recommen- 
dation of  Claude's  Essay  on  the  Composition  of  a  Ser- 
mon, which  he  very  kindly  lent  me.  In  his  house  I 
experienced  every  thing  which  a  Christian  brother 
could  ask.  With  him  I  prayed  often,  and  for  him  I 
have  and  hope  still  to  pray  often.  He  is  now  one  of 
the  oldest  and  most  valuable  of  the  traveling  preachers. 
He  was  a  pioneer  in  this  Western  world,  and  continues 
in  the  work,  so  gloriously  enlarged,  which  he  himself 
assisted  in  planting." 

After  going  to  the  West  in  his  early  ministry  David 
Young  was  identified  more  than  almost  any  of  his  con- 
temporaries with  the  progress  of  Methodism  in  Ohio. 
He  had  a  superior  intellect.  It  was  cultivated,  disci- 
plined, and  finely  furnished.  "  He  knew  theology,  was 
well  acquainted  with  philosophy,  general  history,  na- 
tional law,  and  whatever  pertained  to  our  Federal  or 
State  affairs.  He  was  especially  familiar  with  Church 
history  and  Methodist  jurisprudence." 

Bishop  Morris  said,  "No  man  conducted  public  re- 
ligious service  more  solemnly  and  impressively  than  he 
did,  especially  in  reading  the  holy  Scriptures  or  in  prayer. 
He  was  deeply  experienced  in  the  work  of  grace." 

In  the  pulpit  he  was  a  master.  He  had  logic,  style, 
and  energy.  "His  voice  enabled  him  to  be  heard  at 
the  largest  camp-meetings,  where  he  was  a  favorite 
prencher."  Under  one  of  these  sermons  Bishop  Morris 
saw  his  sin  and  danger. 


MEMOIR. 


31 


The  Hon.  John  McLean,  LL.D.,  said,  "  When  his  soul 
became  stirred,  as  it  sometimes  did  from  its  lowest 
depths,  he  would  enchain  an  audience  beyond  almost 
any  of  his  contemporaries."  He  died  November  15, 
1858.  As  proof  of  his  abiding  love  for  the  ministry  he 
left  his  choice  library  for  the  use  of  the  successive  pas- 
tors of  South  Second  Street  Church,  Zanesville,  Ohio. 

Was  there  a  man  in  the  Church  better  fitted  to  crit- 
icise and  direct  the  promising  preacher  than  he  ?  His 
character  gave  weight  to  his  words,  and  they  lay  on 
Durbin's  intellect  and  heart. 

"  1823.  In  the  fall  of  this  year,"  says  Durbin,  "  I  re- 
ceived an  appointment  to  Lebanon,  Ohio,  a  small  station, 
but  in  a  neighborhood  remarkable  for  many  years  for 
the  flourishing  state  of  Methodism.  In  this  society  there 
is  a  strong  proof  of  the  importance  of  brotherly  love. 
Two  of  the  best  men  (as  is  commonly  supposed)  differed 
in  the  settlement  of  a  partnership,  and  the  simple  fact 
of  each  one  seeming  to  incline  to  his  own  interest  infused 
suspicion  into  both  minds,  and  tainted  them,  I  fear,  for- 
ever. Suspicion  being  attached,  each,  to  clear  himself 
from  it,  proposed  to  yield  the  claim,  but  each  refused 
a  settlement  on  principle  of  gift,  or  the  acquisition  of 
property  when  the  one  giving  it  up  did  not  think  it  was 
proper,  being  offered  merely  for  peace'  sake.  Their 
sense  of  independence  and  honor  refused  the  adjust- 
ment of  claims  in  this  way,  and  as  they  could  be  ad- 
justed in  no  other  they  remain  unadjusted  and  still 
rankling  in  the  vitals  of  the  individuals,  and  gradually 
poisoning  the  existence  of  society. 

"In  this  staiion  I  toiled  hard,  and  I  think  faithfully 
and  saw  but  little  fruit  of  all  my  labors.  Immediately, 
however,  on  the  commencement  of  the  next  Conference 
year  ten  or  twelve  young  men  came  in  to  brighten  the 
hopes  of  the  Church.    During  this  year  I  applied  myself 


32 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


closely  to  my  classical  studies  in  the  house  of  my  much- 
loved  Brother  Reeves.  I  must  here  record  the  kindness 
of  this  gentleman  and  his  family  to  me.  It  continues 
mutually  until  this  day. 

"  1824.  In  the  fall  of  this  year  I  was  appointed  to 
Cincinnati  Station  as  assistant  preacher  to  my  dear 
Brother  William  H.  Raper,  whom  I  love  sincerely  in  the 
Lord."  This  was  a  critical  period  in  the  history  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  "The  Reformers"  in 
the  West,  as  in  the  East,  were  seeking  a  radical  change 
in  the  form  of  our  government;  strong  men  took  sides 
with  them.  Prudence  at  such  a  time  was  a  cardinal 
virtue.  The  spirit  of  reform  showed  its  greatest  power 
in  some  of  our  strongest  centers.  Cincinnati  had  its 
share  in  the  excitement.  Raper  and  Durbin  were  not 
the  men  for  incautious  action,  but  neither  of  them  es- 
caped the  criticisms  of  adverse  reasonings. 

At  the  Chillicothe  Conference  a  resolution  was  offered 
disapproving  the  course  of  one  of  its  members  in  preach- 
ing for  the  "  Reformers,"  who  were  organizing  "  Union 
societies."  Mr.  Durbin  supposed  this  resolution  would 
do  harm,  and  opposed  it  for  half  a  day,  and  finally  got 
it  laid  on  the  table,  and  presented  a  substitute  as  an  act 
of  tenderness  to  the  brother  concerned.  "  It  was  merely 
to  direct  the  president  of  the  Conference  to  request  the 
brother  not  to  preach  for  the  '  Reformers '  owing  to  the 
present  state  of  excitement  in  Cincinnati."  This  gave 
offense.  Language  of  keenness  was  indulged  when 
words  of  kindness  were  merited. 

It  is  painful  to  see  how  devout  and  intelligent  people 
are  sometimes  separated  by  facts  which,  in  themselves, 
have  no  moral  quality.  Churches,  like  individuals, 
have  had  memories  that  they  could  wish  the  last  trump 
might  not  awaken.  Time,  if  not  greater  charity  and 
wisdom,  has  effaced  many  of  the  difficulties  that  in 


MEMOIR. 


33 


earlier  days  divided  us,  and  no  one  more  certainly 
joyed  in  this  than  did  Dr.  Durbin. 

His  appointment  to  "the  Queen  City  of  the  West" 
was  a  nattering  testimonial  to  his  talents.  A  leading 
member  of  "  the  Stone  Church  "  had  heard  him  in  one 
of  his  first  appointments  and  was  charmed  with  his 
earnestness  and  simplicity,  and  saw  in  him  the  promise 
of  a  great  future.  He  was  anxious  to  secure  his  serv- 
ices for  the  charge.  Then,  as  now,  the  judgment  of  a 
layman  of  intelligence,  piety,  and  strength  justly  com- 
manded influence  with  the  episcopacy,  and  Mr.  Durbin 
was  appointed.  Young  as  he  was  he  "showed  himself 
a  man." 

A  friend  of  Dr.  Durbin  says,  "  His  marked  ability, 
refined  and  courteous  manners,  soon  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  prominent  men  in  Cincinnati,  among  whom 
was  General  William  H.  Harrison,  afterward  President 
of  the  United  States,  Judge  McLean,  the  best  talent  of 
the  bar,  and  some  of  the  most  distinguished  members 
of  other  Churches,  Unitarian  as  well  as  our  own  peo- 
ple." While  in  this  charge  he  resided  in  the  family  of 
Mr.  Christopher  Smith,  whose  house  was  to  the  close 
of  his  life  his  Cincinnati  home.  Mr.  Smith  was  a  prom- 
inent man  in  the  Church,  and  was  a  member  of  the  first 
Methodist  class  in  Cincinnati.  He  knew  a  preacher's 
heart.  Now  Mr.  Durbin  had  the  best  opportunity  for 
study.  He  immediately  entered  the  Cincinnati  College, 
located  in  the  city,  and  his  people  gave  him  six  months 
of  special  devotion  to  his  college  course.  But  mean- 
while he  attended  to  all  the  duties  of  his  station.  Here 
was,  indeed,  a  contrast  to  the  embarrassments  of  his 
early  studies. 

At  Mr.  Smith's  he  had  as  real  a  home  as  if  he  had 
been  a  son.  As  his  time  was  at  his  command  he  em- 
ployed it  to  his  mind.    One  of  the  perils  of  his  position 

4  •': 


34 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


was  like  that  of  a  man  with  a  voracious  appetite,  long 
restrained,  before  whom,  for  the  first  time,  a  banquet  is 
spread  with  liberty  to  eat  to  satisfy.  Indulgence  might 
be  death.  With  him  such  was  the  luxury  of  learning 
that  in  his  application  to  his  books  there  was  danger  of 
impairing  health  and  so  defeating  his  purpose  of  greater 
usefulness.  With  every  facility,  comfort,  and  encour- 
agement his  efforts  and  progress  were  amazing.  But  as 
in  other  things,  so  in  this,  reason  restrained  his  ambition 
and  directed  his  energies.  "  His  wonderful  application 
and  great  economy  of  time  were  soon  noticed  by  his 
friends;  each  day  was  systematized,  each  hour  had  its 
own  special  work."  He  was  an  early  riser,  and  was  at 
his  studies  long  before  the  family  were  astir.  "The 
house  was  surrounded  by  ample  grounds,  which  offered 
many  quiet  spots.  To  one  of  these  in  pleasant  weather 
he  usually  took  his  book,  after  the  morning  meal,  to  pre- 
pare for  the  hour  of  recitation.  The  after  part  of  the 
day  he  gave  to  pastoral  work,  and  study  in  his  own 
room." 

He  seldom  accepted  an  invitation  for  company,  feel- 
ing his  time  at  this  period  of  life  was  too  valuable  to  be 
spent,  otherwise  than  in  positive  duty.  Yet  he  remem- 
bered that  the  bow  that  is  constantly  bent  loses  its  elas- 
ticity, and  in  his  own  way  he  unstrung  it.  But  he  was 
careful  that  its  fiber  was  not  impaired  or  the  string 
broken  by  any  contact  or  use. 

After  a  day  of  hard  work  he  devoted  the  evening 
hour  to  the  family  circle,  and  his  moods  and  manners 
and  stories  charmed  the  children. 

His  labors  and  experiences  made  their  impression, 
and  helped  to  form  his  intellectual  and  social  habits. 
Years  after  he  walked  past  the  old  home,  looking  at  the 
windows  where  he  had  sat  and  studied,  exclaiming, 
(t  Dear  me,  what  hard  work  I  did  in  that  room  !  "  This 


MEMOIR. 


35 


place  was  as  real  to  him  in  its  memories  as  Bethel  was 
to  Jacob. 

Thence  he  went  with  his  completed  purpose  of  col- 
lege graduation.  Thence  he  went,  with  the  knowledge 
that  all  his  duties  as  a  Methodist  minister  had  been 
sedulously  observed,  that  they  had  commanded  his  at- 
tention, elicited  his  energy,  and  shown  their  fruits.  He 
had  nou  done  the  work  of  the  Lord  deceitfully  or 
partially,  nor  had  he  offered  to  God  that  which  cost  him 
nothing.  Study  meant  study,  whether  in  college  or 
cabin,  in  forest  or  by  the  fireside.  But  he  was  not  more 
certainly  the  "  earnest  student "  than  the  attractive 
preacher  and  the  faithful  pastor. 

In  due  time  (1822)  he  was  ordained  deacon,  and  in 
1824  he  received  elder's  orders.  He  was  graduated  with 
honor,  and  as  a  special  reward  of  diligence  and  scholar- 
ship the  college  at  once  conferred  the  degree  of 
"Master  of  Arts." 

Who  can  fail  to  honor  the  Providence  that,  after 
testing  a  man,  gives  him  what  his  character  deserves  ? 
As  in  spiritual  things,  "  He  that  goeth  forth  weeping, 
bearing  precious  seed,"  comes  again  with  rej" icing, 
bringing  his  sheaves  with  him,  so  in  faithful  labor  the 
reward  is  certain,  and  the  contrast  between  weeping  and 
reaping  may  be  in  a  short  period  realized. 

The  foundation  of  his  future  reputation  in  the  de- 
partment of  education  was  now  laid  and  the  problem 
of  his  labor  had  found  its  solution. 

The  richest  resources  of  man  are  in  himself,  and  their 
depth  and  fullness  are  never  so  revealed  as  when  under 
the  pressure  of  adverse  circumstances  he  is  roused  to 
the  most  vigorous  and  persistent  effort.  A  great  soul 
may  show  its  impatience  of  restraint,  but  difficulties 
do  not  conquer  conviction.  Only  the  first  man  was  per- 
mitted a  paradise  to  his  mind,  and  with  him  it  soon 


36 


JOHN  P.  DURE  IN. 


ceased.  Some  of  the  grandest  achievements  that  his- 
tory records  have  been  performed  amid  embarrassments 
best  calculated  to  repress  energy  and  forbid  hope. 
There  are  great  elements  in  all  great  natures,  and  it  is 
for  their  possessors  to  determine  whether  difficulties 
shall  destroy  or  develop  them  ;  whether  they  shall  be- 
ns water  to  extinguish  the  fires  of  genius  or  as  wind  to 
fan  them  to  a  flame.  A  great  spirit  spurns  no  auxiliary 
to  its  advancement,  but  is  ever  ready  to  adopt  the  best 
means  for  the  end  proposed.  The  wise  man  does  not  re- 
fuse the  ladder  to  a  true  fame.  John  P.  Durbin  knew 
that  the  college  would  advance  him  in  the  purposes  of  a 
sanctified  ambition.  We  speak  of  self-made  men.  All 
that  are  really  made  are  so  made.  None  are  great  by 
accident.  No  one  receives  enough  from  ancestry  or 
environment  either  to  make  him  truly  great  or  really 
small. 

"  Men  at  some  time  are  masters  of  their  fates; 
The  fault,  dear  Brutus,  is  not  in  our  stars, 
But  in  ourselves,  that  we  are  underlings." 

But  while  we  have  marked  the  progress,  admired 
the  courage,  and  rejoiced  in  the  success  of  the  college 
student,  we  have  had  no  adequate  idea  of  his  power  in 
the  pulpit.  Modesty  forbade  a  fall  record  of  facts. 
Some  fruits,  indeed,  he  has  named  ;  some  trials  he  has 
stated;  and  we  have  seen  through  him  the  theological 
errors  that  he  encountered,  and  that  caused  "the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  to  begin  to  move  upon  him  "  for 
their  refutation.  But  the  years  of  his  close  study  were 
years  of  grand,  if  of  diverse,  experience  as  a  preacher. 
In  the  pulpit  he  had  his  trials  as  well  as  his  triumphs. 

The  Rev.  J.  A.  Roberts,  of  Kansas,  in  an  article  in 
T/ie  Christian  Advocate,  of  New  York,  July  2,  1855, 
says  that  "at  a  quarterly  meeting  held  near  the  village 
of  Dayton  young  Durbin  was  put  up  to  preach  on  Sat- 


MEMOIR. 


37 


urday  night,  that  being  the  time  to  try  the  boys.  Dur- 
ing the  sermon  the  ex-officio  presiding  elder  '  asked 
the  Lord  to  give  patience.'  A  brother  who  knew  said, 
1  John  would  have  preached  a  good  sermon  if  he  had  had 
half  a  chance.' " 

One  of  the  fathers  is  represented  as  declaring  he' 
might  as  well  go  home,  as  there  was  not  much  in  the 
young  man.  Time  soon  showed  that  there  was  enough 
in  him  to  commend  him  to  the  notice  of  the  world. 

Mr.  Roberts,  who  refers  to  his  failure  at  the  quarterly 
meeting  named,  says,  "  The  following  August,  when  the 
Methodist  hosts  within  a  radius  of  thirty  miles  were 
gathered  at  a  camp-meeting,  some  thirty  miles  south- 
west of  Dayton,  on  Sabbath  morning,  before  sunrise, 
the  Revs.  John  Sale  and  Arthur  Elliott,  presiding 
elder  and  preacher  in  charge,  were  in  consultation 
touching  the  order  of  the  day.  Looking  up  just  as  the 
light  was  breaking  from  the  purpling  East  the  former 
exclaimed,  '  Why,  there  comes  white-headed  John  Dur- 
bin.'  *  Yes,'  said  Elliott,  'and  we  must  put  him  up  to 
preach.'  But  Sale  objected,  referring  to  the  Dayton  fail- 
ure. Elliott  was  persistent,  and  declared  he  would  be  re- 
sponsible for  costs.  The  presiding  elder  finally  agreed, 
holding  the  other  to  the  responsibility.  'But,'  said  he, 
*  we  will  put  him  up  at  eight  o'clock,  and  if  he  fails, 
we  will  have  him  out  of  the  way.'  Elliott  immediately 
ran  to  meet  John,  took  him  in  his  arms,  and  told  him 
to  be  ready  to  preach  at  eight  o'clock,  leaving  him  at  a 
tent  for  refreshment.  Prompt  at  the  hour  the  trumpet 
sounded,  and  to  the  astonishment  of  thnt  great  com- 
pany of  elect  men  and  women,  instead  of  greeting  one 
of  the  giants  present  there  stood  before  them  that  deli- 
cate-looking boy.  His  reading  of  the  hymn  was  with 
trembling,  the  prayer  humble,  but  there  was  a  holy 
unction  about  it.    The  introduction  of  the  sermon  was 


38 


JOHN  P.  DURPJN. 


faulty  ;  it  was  slightly  drawling  and  embarrassed  ;  but 
hark !  there  sparkles  a  sentence  of  beauty  ;  others 
follow  in  rapid  succession  of  marvelous  splendor,  unc- 
tion, and  power.  'Bless  the  Lord,'  said  the  presiding 
elder.'  '  Amen  !  The  costs  won't  be  much,'  replied  the 
preacher  in  charge.  Soon  the  vast  throngs  arose  to  their 
feet,  crowding  to  the  glowing  orator  and  swaying 
like  trees  under  the  blast  of  a  tornado,  while  the  shouts 
of  '  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest !'  were  heard  afar  off." 

As  his  ability  had  become  known,  he  was  requested  by 
the  presiding  elder  to  preach  at  a  camp-meeting  near 
Lebanon,  Ohio.  The  occasion  was  greater  than  he  had 
supposed.  The  day  came,  and  the  preacher  pondered 
his  theme  and  asked  God  to  prepare  his  heart.  The 
plan  was  formed  and  his  mind  was  filled  with  the  sub- 
ject. He  returned  to  the  preachers'  tent,  and  was  lying 
upon  the  straw,  as  if  he  had  already  learned  one  of  the 
most  important  lessons  in  connection  with  pulpit  prep- 
aration, namely,  to  allow  the  intellect  rest  befoie  it 
makes  the  greatest  effort.  The  elder,  seeing  him  at 
ease,  said,  "John,  are  you  ready  to  preach  to  the 
crowds  that  are  pouring  in  to  hear  you  ?  "  "  This," 
said  he,  in  after  life,  "  gave  me  the  first  intimation  that 
nny  would  come  twenty  miles  to  hear  me,"  as  he  was 
told  they  were  then  doing.  The  result  of  that  sermon 
is  not  yet  forgotten.  God  made  the  place  of  his  foot- 
steps glorious.  Preachers  and  people  were  in  trans- 
ports. None  came  too  far,  nor  did  Durbin  study  too 
long  to  prepare,  nor  rest  too  long  to  deliver  that  dis- 
course. While  yet  in  the  West  he  was  requested  to 
preach  at  another  camp-meeting.  It  was  in  a  com- 
munity where  "  the  Trinity  "  and  "  Triune  "  were  words 
regarded  with  disfavor.  He  was  impressed  to  deliver 
a  sermon  on  the  deity  of  Christ.  His  mind  and  heart 
were  full  of  the  subject.    It  took  possession  of  him. 


MEMOIR. 


39 


Awed  by  his  theme,  and  stirred  by  the  demands  of  the 
occasion,  he  entered  upon  his  duty  with  faith  in  God. 
He  commenced  the  discourse  with  unaffected  modesty, 
but  realized  his  authority  as  a  teacher  of  the  divine 
word.  There  was  nothing  vague  in  his  thoughts, 
nothing  dubious  in  his  language,  nothing  indifferent 
in  his  manner,  his  expressions  were  vigorous,  his  con- 
victions profound  and  active.  He  was  in  a  moral  mood 
for  great  service.  He  plied  them  with  Scripture,  he 
pressed  them  with  facts,  he  urged  them  by  arguments. 
Logic  was  on  fire.  Sentence  after  sentence  shot  forth 
with  convicting  force,  and  the  strength  of  every  op- 
posing argument  was  broken.  He  brought  his  proofs 
from  two  worlds.  The  infinite  attributes  of  Jehovah, 
as  illustrated  by  Christ  in  time,  and  his  glories  as  the 
Son  of  the  Highest  in  eternity.  He  showed  them  "  God 
manifested  in  the  flesh,"  and  now  seated  with  the 
Father  on  his  throne,  with  the  redeemed  casting  their 
crowns  at  his  feet  and  saying,  "Thou  art  worthy,  O 
Lord,  to  receive  glory,  and  honor,  and  power,  for  thou 
hast  created  all  things,  and  for  thy  pleasure  they  are 
and  were  created."  Light  flashed  in  every  direction. 
The  divine  page  was  illuminated,  and  the  Saviour,  as  in 
his  transfiguration,  appeared  with  claims  as  pure  and 
countenance  as  bright  as  the  raiment  through  which 
his  glory  shone  when  the  voice  came  from  the  cloud, 
"This  is  my  beloved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased  ; 
hear  ye  him."  And  they  did  hear  him,  to  confess  his 
claim,  to  honor  his  mission,  and  seek  his  power.  The 
genius  of  the  speaker  was  forgotten.  The  "  brightness 
of  the  Father's  glory  filled  the  horizon  of  their  vision, 
and  the  unbelieving,  like  Thomas,  exclaimed,  "  My  Lord 
and  my  God  !  "  The  eye  of  Durbin,  that  in  a  climax 
seemed  never  equaled;  revealed  his  soul.  Truth  was 
riveted.    Looking  round  in  the  pulpit  he  saw  a  min- 


4<) 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


ister  who  had  been  in  great  perplexity  on  the  sub. 
ject,  and,  to  use  the  words  of  Dr.  Durbin,  "  the  big 
tears,  like  bullets,  were  rolling  down  his  cheeks."  The 
work  was  done,  the  snare  was  broken,  and  he  had 
escaped.  Only  in  the  next  world  can  it  be  known  how 
many  clouds  were  that  day  dispelled,  how  many  doubts 
were  dissipated,  and  in  how  many  cases  the  true  faith 
was  established.  His  fame  spread,  and  the  marvels  of 
God's  power  that  day  through  him  have  made  many  a 
thrilling  narrative.  The  reputation  then  gained  rested 
upon  nothing  meretricious  or  sensational,  but  upon  the 
wise,  the  weighty,  and  the  eloquent  presentation  of  es- 
sential truth.  The  people  who  were  so  impressed  were 
not  strangers  to  able  and  popular  preaching.  It  was 
the  West  of  a  William  Beauchamp,  from  whom  light 
broke  upon  the  most  bewildered  understanding  ;  of 
Mussel  Bigelow,  of  pure  taste,  ponderous  thought,  great 
emotion,  intense  earnestness,  and  in  the  language  of 
Bishop  Thomson,  "of  an  eloquence  of  the  most  ex- 
alted kind;"  of  Samuel  Parker,  keen  in  perception, 
forcible  in  logic,  elevated  in  style,  with  a  voice  that 
was  rich,  mellow,  and  harmonious,  of  whom  Bishop 
Morris  declared  that  before  him  multitudes  of  people 
melted  like  snow  before  an  April  sun."  It  was  the 
West  of  John  Strange,  "  one  of  the  brightest  lights 
of  the  American  pulpit,  formed  by  nature  to  be  elo- 
quent." "A  man  who  could  transport  his  hearers  in 
one  moment  to  the  third  heavens,  and  make  it  bright, 
glorious,  present,  and  real  to  them,  and  the  next  he 
could  bear  them  away  to  the  world  of  woe  and  freeze 
their  blood  with  images  of  terror."  A  man  of  whom 
Aaron  Wood  said,  "  He  breathed  into  his  sentences  his 
own  strangeness,  which  can't  be  imitated  or  described." 
It  was  the  land  of  James  Quinn,  of  James  B.  Finley, 
and  of  John  A.  Waterman,  "men  of  mental  caliber  and 


MEMOIR. 


4  1 


moral  might;"  it  was  amid  such  ministers,  and  by  their 
concession,  that  John  P.  Durbin  ruse  and  stood  the 
acknowledged  prince.  Nor  is  it  to  be  accounted  for, 
except  on  the  ground  of  his  pre-eminence,  that  when- 
ever in  after  years  he  went  to  the  West  people  of  all 
Churches  and  conditions  flocked  to  his  ministry  and  sat 
with  rapture  under  his  discourses. 

If  ever  the  ability  of  Durbin  was  a  problem,  it  was 
solved  before  his  habits  and  history  had  made  him  the 
scholar. 


42 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Exalted— Character  Made  in  Seven  Years— Pro- 
fessor in  Augusta  College. 

DEEDS  express  character.  We  have  seen  the  youthful 
Durbin,  and  he  has  made  his  impression  of  energy, 
aptitude,  and  success.  At  the  age  of  fourteen  years,  for 
reasons  sufficient  to  influence  a  mature  mind,  he  deter- 
mined upon  a  trade.  When  eighteen  he  had  not  only  ac- 
quired a  knowledge  of  the  business,  but  had  "  followed  it 
to  some  profit  for  a  year  or  more."  By  what  power  did 
he  in  so  short  a  time  make  it  available  to  himself  ?  Cab- 
inet-making requires  skill,  but  he  had  learned  and  used 
the  art.  Have  wre  felt  no  surprise  at  his  accurate  think- 
ing and  wise  conclusions  in  regard  to  the  present  good 
and  future  welfare  of  his  younger  brothers  ?  At  eight- 
een we  have  seen  him  entering  upon  the  work  of  his  early 
taste  and  of  his  moral  convictions,  and  then  rising  above 
the  difficulties  that  beset  his  path  as  a  student.  We 
have  seen  him  at  the  age  of  twenty-five  the  peculiarly 
honored  graduate  of  college,  while  as  a  preacher  he  has 
risen  to  an  eminence  that  places  him  in  the  nation's 
eyes. 

In  seven  years  John  Price  Durbin  was  made. 

The  foundation  of  his  future  was  laid,  the  attention 
was  directed,  the  confidence  was  inspired,  and  the 
power  was  evoked  by  which  he  was  conducted  to  the 
positions  that  distinguished  his  after  life. 

1.  What  was  he  made? 

We  answer,  a  Methodist  minister,  with  his  sympathies, 


MEMOIR. 


4?, 


experiences,  and  purposes;  a  herald  of  the  cross  that 
could  be  satisfied  with  nothing  short  of  spiritual  char- 
acter, of  ardent  worship,  of  a  ministry  that  instructed, 
convinced,  persuaded,  and  was  the  means  of  saving  men. 
The  zeal  that  prompted  him  from  his  own  meager  means 
to  purchase,  carry,  and  distribute  tracts,  putting  them 
in  the  path  of  the  traveler,  or  seeking  and  with  avidity 
supplying  the  plowmen  from  the  field,  reveals  his 
spirit ;  such  assiduity  gives  us  insight  as  to  his  earnest 
wish  to  do  all  the  good  he  could,  in  all  the  ways  in  his 
power. 

While  the  results  that  crowned  his  efforts  speak  with 
eloquence  to  every  one,  "  Be  instant  in  season  and  out 
of  season,"  the  report  that  reached  him  years  alter  he 
left  the  circuit  on  which  the  presiding  elder  placed  him, 
showed,  in  addition  to  facts  previously  known,  that  his 
"labor  was  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord,"  and  became  to  his 
soul  the  joy  of  success.  The  conversion  of  his  host  at 
Hamilton  may  be  regarded  as  an  illustration  of  the  influ- 
ence of  character  and  intercourse  in  securing  access  to  a 
heart  difficult  to  reach,  and  of  even  so  conveying  rebuke 
that  it  was  received  with  welcome;  and  the  delicacy  with 
which  he  dealt  with  his  friend  shows  that  he  had  early 
learned  that  "he  that  winneth  souls  is  wise."  While 
he  maintained  his  solicitude  he  would  not,  by  overdoing, 
defeat  his  purpose.  In  this  he  shows  a  holy  art  that 
is  sometimes  our  greatest  help  in  bringing  souls  to 
Christ.  If  the  important  question  that  is  sometimes 
so  pungently  put  concerning  a  young  minister,  "Has  he 
fruit  ?  "  is  asked  in  relation  to  Durbin,  we  answer,  Yes, 
he  has  fruit — real,  rich,  ripe,  and  manifest  fruit. 

As  an  orator  he  had  commanded  thousands. 

But  his  power  as  a  speaker  was  not  merely  in  fluency 
of  utterance,  beauty  of  language,  and  force  of  logic ;  it  * 
was  still  more  in  the  interest  he  showed,  the  spirit  that 


44 


JOHN  P.  DURBIK 


energized,  and  the  unction  of  the  Holy  One  that  the 
people  felt. 

As  a  scholar  he  was  made. 

His  attainments  in  seven  years  caused  him  to  be 
eagerly  sought  as  Professor  of  Ancient  Languages  in 
the  first  Methodist  College  in  the  land,  and  to  remain 
in  highest  demand  in  the  most  distinguished  institutions 
of  the  Church. 

2.  How  was  he  made  f 

Shall  we  briefly  say,  God  made  him,  that  he  called 
him,  sent  him,  sustained  him,  and  honored  his  labors  ? 
Of  this  we  have  no  doubt.  John  Newton  said,  "Only 
God  can  make  a  minister."  .  We  accept  the  statement  ; 
but  to  be  more  particular,  how  did  God  make  John  P. 
^  Durbin  a  preacher  ?  We  answer,  by  so  influencing  him 
to  recognize  the  divine  economy  in  him,  the  man,  as 
to  neglect  no  power,  and  to  employ  to  the  best  purpose 
all  the  talents,  time,  and  means  at  his  disposal;  to  use 
every  endowment,  to  discipline  every  faculty,  to  devote 
every  energy  that  centered  in  him  to  the  achievement 
of  highest  intellectual  and  moral  results.  Then  God 
made  him,  by  his  stature  and  symmetry  of  character,  a 
force  in  the  ministry  that  genius  alone  never  reaches, 
and  that  divine  grace  only  makes  perfect — a  grace 
always  at  the  command  of  him  whose  "  sufficiency  is 
of  God." 

He  gladly  accepted  the  help  of  men. 

He  was  one  of  the  most  teachable  preachers.  He  knew 
his  want,  and  he  rejoiced  in  the  aid  of  the  competent. 
And  as  a  man's  "  gift  makes  room  for  him,  and  brings 
him  before  great  men,"  so  the  singleness  of  a  worthy 
aim,  the  continuance  of  noble  conduct,  and  the  unre- 
served devotion  to  duty  of  all  his  resources,  constrained 
those  who  had  the  ability  to  facilitate  his  advancement 
to  make  their  contribution  to  his  just  ambition.  Thus 


MEMOIR. 


45 


men  helped  Durbin,  as  they  saw  he  deserved  it,  and 
would  reward  their  attention. 

The  grand  sire  roused  the  youth  to  duty.  Mr.  Akin 
spoke  wisely  to  his  wants;  Collord  helped  his  grammar, 
Ruter  incited  him  to  linguistic  knowledge;  the  German 
furnished  Clarke's  Commentary  to  aid  the  study  of 
the  Scriptures.  The  journeyman  made  the  correction 
of  faults  easy.  David  Young  gave  highest  criticisms 
and  presented  basis  for  abiding  fame.  When  vehemence 
of  speech  had  broken  the  voice  and  impaired  the 
health,  and  sent  him  home  in  apprehension  that  his  work 
was  at  an  end,  a  plain  man  suggested  the  effective 
means  that  in  six  months  restored  his  voice  for  any 
service,  and  secured  to  him  in  the  conversational  address 
a  secret  of  power  that  philosophy  never  transcended, 
and  that  to  his  latest  life  showed  its  benefits. 

It  was  not  the  day  of  "theological  seminaries." 
Misled,  indeed,  is  the  young  man  who,  having  the  op- 
portunity, declines  their  advantages  ;  but  let  us  honor 
our  fathers  in  the  help  they  rendered  us  ere  Method- 
ism provided  the  schools. 

When  on  one  occasion  Dr.  Doddridge  was  commend- 
ing to  his  theological  students  modern  authors  of 
merit,  he  paused  to  praise  the  Puritans,  and  said, 
"There  were  good  sense  and  learning  in  our  fathers' 
days,  as  well  as  in  our  own — as  our  grand-mothers  had 
beauty,  though  their  antiquated  dress  might  disguise  it 
in  some  measure." 

Yes,  honor  to  the  fathers  !  But  the  stone  must  be 
of  the  right  quality  to  receive  the  shape  and  take  the 
polish  that  the  sculptor  seeks  to  give  and  that  the  lapi- 
dary labors  to  impart,  or  all  is  vain. 

It  is  not  for  want  of  means  and  helpers  that  there  are 
not  many  Durbins.  Helps  indeed  he  had  ;  but  they  did 
not  make  the  scholar,  the  divine,  or  the  preacher. 


46 


JOHN  P.  DURBW. 


As  we  read  his  studies,  consider  his  circumstances, 
observe  his  labors,  and  mark  his  devotion,  we  can  hardly 
marvel  that  such  a  man  should  obtain  any  thing  upon 
which  he  set  his  mind  and  heart.  Will  he  who  would 
attain  the  highest  excellence  consent  to  emulate  his 
virtues  as  a  student  and  his  habits  as  a  preacher? 

May  we  not  reverently  say,  as  the  course  to  the  divin- 
est  riches  is  through  a  "  strait  gate  and  narrow  way  " 
of  sacrifice  and  effort,  so  the  most  valuable  and  abiding 
wealth  of  the  mind  is  through  the  strait  gate  and  nar- 
row way  of  the  renunciation  of  ease  and  the  acceptance 
of  labor? 

When  a  king  asked  Euclid,  the  mathematician, 
whether  he  could  not  explain  his  art  to  him  in  a  more 
compendious  manner,  he  answered  that  there  was  "  no 
royal  road  to  geometry."  Might  and  money  may  seize 
and  secure  other  things,  but  knowledge  is  the  result  of 
careful,  if  not  painful,  search. 

1825.  Mr.  Durbin  writes,  "At  the  Conference  of 
this  year  I  was  appointed  professor  of.  languages  in 
Augusta  College,  Kentucky."  Scarcely  had  he  re- 
ceived the  seal  of  his  alma  mater  before  he  was  invited 
to  a  chair  in  the  first  college  established  in  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church.  The  reputation  that  he  had 
made  as  a  scholar  and  the  distinction  he  had  attained  as 
a  preacher  justified  and  commended  this  election.  His 
conviction  of  the  Church's  duty  in  higher  education 
was  a  worthy  motive  for  his  acceptance  of  the  place. 
It  was  not  from  indifference  to  the  value  of  colleges 
that  our  fathers  did  not  before  this  time  have  them  in 
successful  operation.  In  1780  John  Dickins,  a  fine 
scholar,  advocated  an  academic  institution  for  Method- 
ism. In  1784,  the  year  of  our  organization  as  a  Church, 
our  two  Bishops,  Coke  and  Asbury,  were  engaged  in 
laying  the  foundation  of  a  college  at  Abingdon,  Md. 


MEMOIR. 


47 


In  1  787  Asbury  consecrated  and  opened  it  with  public 
ceremonies.  As  evidence  of  their  identity  with  it 
the  names  of  the  two  Bishops  blended  in  the  title  of 
the  institution.  It  was  Cokesbury  College.  But  neither 
name,  nor  purpose,  nor  consecration,  preserved  it  from 
devouring  flames.  In  1795  it  was  destroyed  by  lire.  A 
second  edifice  was  provided  in  Baltimore,  and  this  fell 
as  the  former.  These  adversities,  following  in  quick 
succession,  tempted  the  thought  in  some  minds  that 
Providence  frowned  on  our  effort,  or  at  least  that  the 
time  had  not  come  for  us  to  engage  in  this  work. 
Though  such  reasonings  for  a  time  repressed  ardor 
they  did  not  extinguish  the  fire  of  the  Church's  zeal. 
The  flame  burned  on,  and  in  different  localities  a  jet 
wTould  shoot  forth  giving  evidence  of  the  presence  of 
much  more  that  would  soon  show  itself  in  a  broadened 
flame. 

Asbury  encouraged  hope  of  brighter  days  at  hand. 
In  1818  Dr.  Samuel  K.  Jennings,  a  graduate  of  Rut- 
gers College,  New  Jersey,  and  other  Methodists,  at- 
tempted a  college  in  Baltimore;  but  this  failed. 

Before  the  admission  of  Kentucky  as  a  State  into 
the  Union  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  in  the 
van  of  other  Christian  denominations  in  inauguiating 
measures  for  the  education  of  youth.  The  building  of 
"  Bethel  Academy,"  and  the  noble  efforts  made  by  our 
fathers  to  sustain  it,  though  unsuccessful,  showed  the 
vigor  of  their  purpose  and  furnished  ground  for  faith  in 
the  future.  The  formation  of  the  Kentucky  Conference, 
in  1820,  placed  the  Church  in  a  position  to  consider  her 
resources  and  rise  to  the  measure  of  supposed  duty. 
Ohio,  as  well  as  Kentucky,  felt  the  need  of  a  college. 

James  B.  Finley,  at  that  time  presiding  elder  of  the 
Lebanon  District,  exerted  his  influence  in  its  behalf. 
Aware  that  neither  Conference  alone  could  support  such 


48 


JOHX  P.  DUE  BIX. 


an  institution,  Ohio  and  Kentucky  united  in  the  un- 
dertaking, and  the  seat  of  the  college  was  tixed  at  Au- 
gusta, Ky.  It  was  properly  chartered  by  the  Legislature 
of  the  State,  Dec.  22,  1822.  The  Rev.  John  P.  Finley 
was  appointed  professor  of  languages  in  1822  and 
afterward  had  charge  as  president.  He  died  on  the 
8th  of  May,  1825. 

In  1825  the  college  edifice  was  erected,  and  Dr. 
Martin  Ruter  was  elected  president,  Joseph  S.  Tornlin- 
son  became  professor  of  mathematics  and  natural 
philosophy,  and  John  P.  Durbin  took  the  professorship 
of  languages.  A  little  later,  in  1831,  Henry  Bascom 
was  chosen  professor  of  "  moral  science  and  belles- 
lettres:' 

Who  that  reads  these  names  and  knew  those  minis- 
ters can  fail  to  wonder  at  the  early  power  of  Method- 
ism to  raise  up  men  for  its  necessities  ?  It  was  a 
wonderful  concentration  and  combination  of  mental  and 
moral  forces  !  It  showed  astonishing  ability  of  adap- 
tation to  the  Church's  demand  !  It  is  difficult  to  think 
of  these  four  men  in  one  college,  and  that  our  first. 
The  world  has  long  witnessed  our  success  in  saving 
souls.  It  was  our  glory.  To  this  we  were  trained. 
Nothing  was  ever  to  impair  this  power  or  disturb  this 
purpose.  On  this  we  had  fixed  our  thoughts  and  to 
this  we  had  directed  our  spiritual  energies. 

Some  knew,  however,  that  with  all  this  zeal  for  con- 
version Methodist  preachers  could  avoid  the  difficulties 
of  the  itinerancy,  cultivate  habits  of  study,  and  make 
progress  in  learning.  Among  them  were  logicians  and 
linguists,  metaphysicians  and  natural  philosphers,  men 
acquainted  with  various  sciences,  well  read  in  history 
and  familiar  with  general  literature.  Though  unaccus- 
tomed to  "  college  shades  "  they  made  shades  for  them- 
selves, and  buried  themselves  in  their  depths  while  they 


MEMOIR. 


49 


explored  systems,  exploded  errors,  and  solved  difficult 
problems.  "Through  desire  they  intermeddled  with 
all  wisdom."  They  had  in  those  days  but  small  libra- 
ries, yet  they  knew  their  contents  and  could  use  them 
to  advantage.  It  was  not  with  them  so  much  a  question 
how  many  books  they  had  upon  their  shelves  as  how 
much  of  their  contents  was  in  their  memory.  Their 
study  for  thought  and  their  closet  for  prayer  were  one 
and  the  same,  and  after  far-looking  beyond  the  skies  they 
often  found  their  minds  were  clearer  and  keener  to  see 
the  things  at  hand.  Then  they  showed  a  mental  aeuteness 
that  made  them  mighty  men.  They  could  delve  as 
well  as  soar.  They  knew  where  some  of  the  richest  in- 
tellectual mines  are  found,  and  they  spurned  the  theory 
of  "  the  unprofitableness  of  deep  mining."  They  ob- 
tained more  than  the  labor  cost.  Some  of  them  were 
not  only  walking  concordances,  but  living  cyclope- 
dias. 

We  may  glance  at  the  men  whom  the  Church  first 
called  to  this  new  department  of  her  solicitude  and 
service. 

The  Rev.  John  P.  Finley,,named  as  first  president  of 
Augusta  College,  was  a  brother  of  Rev.  J.  B.  Finley. 
"  Under  the  instruction  of  his  father  he  had  acquired  a 
competent  knowledge  of  the  sciences  and  of  the  Latin 
and  Greek  languages  ;  and  of  the  English  language 
Bishop  Brtscom  pronounced  him  a  perfect  master." 

The  father  under  whom  Mr.  Finley  studied  was  a  stu- 
dent in  the  "  College  of  New  Jersey  "  under  Dr.  Wither- 
spoon,  and,  according  to  the  testimony  of  the  son,  James 
B.,  he  passed  through  the  regular  college  course  at 
Princeton,  though  for  some  unknown  reason  his  name 
does  not  appear  on  the  list  of  graduates. — Spraguds 
Annals  of  the  American  Methodist  Pulpit. 

The  first  President  of  Augusta  College  was  "an  ami- 
5 


50 


JOHN  P.  LCRBIX. 


able  and  highly  gifted  man,  an  excellent  teacher,  and 
an  earnest  and  impressive  preacher." 

Dr.  Martin  Ruter  was  one  of  the  earliest  men  in 
Methodism  to  receive  the  degree  of  doctor  of  divinity. 
This  honor  was  conferred  by  the  Transylvania  Univer- 
sity, Kentucky,  in  1822.  It  was  at  a  time  when  the 
degree  meant  more  than  honor.  In  1801  he  was  admit- 
ted on  trial  in  the  New  York  Conference  and  filled 
stations  of  high  responsibility.  In  1818  he  was  placed 
in  charge  of  the  New  Market  Wesleyan  Academy,  un- 
der the  patronage  of  the  New  England  Conference.  This 
afterward  became  the  "  Wilbraham  Academy."  From 
1820  to  1828  he  had  charge  »of  the  Western  Book  Con- 
cern at  Cincinnati.  Thence  he  was  called  to  the  presi- 
dency of  Augusta  College,  which  he  accepted,  and  re- 
mained there  till  1832. 

His  heart  was  in  the  regular  work  of  the  ministry, 
and  he  longed  to  return  to  that  service.  This  he  did 
in  the  Pittsburg  Conference,  and  was  stationed  in  that 
city.  There  he  remained  till  1837,  when  Bishop  Red- 
ding appointed  him  Superintendent  of  the  Texas  Mis- 
sion. To  this  field  Littleton  Fowler  and  Robert  Arm- 
strong accompanied  him,  and  in  Texas  he  laid  the 
foundation  of  a  splendid  superstructure.  He  had  just 
entered  upon  his  work  with  consuming  zeal  and  im- 
plicit faith  when  the  Master  said,  "  Well  done."  He 
died  in  Washington,  Texas,  May  16,  1838.  All 
Methodism  mourned!  He  sleeps  in  a  missionary  grave 
on  the  banks  of  the  Brazos,  in  Texas.  The  fine  scholar, 
the  trained  teacher,  the  early  friend  of  John  P.  Durbin, 
who  so  encouraged  him  in  his  classical  studies  when  on 
the  circuit,  served  as  president  of  Augusta  when  Dur- 
bin was  professor.  As  a  writer  his  name  has  found 
an  abiding  place  in  his  work  on  "  Church  History,"  so 
long  a  text-book  in  the  Conference  course  of  study. 


MEMOIR. 


51 


John  Smith  Tomlinson,  after  an  apprenticeship 
at  the  saddlery  business,  entered  Transylvania  Univei- 
sity,  and  for  his  support  depended  principally  upon  his 
trade,  to  which  he  devoted  his  spare  time.  He  gradu- 
ated with  honor  and  was  called  to  Augusta  College, 
and  there  at  various  times  tilled  the  professorships  of 
languages,  mathematics,  natural  science,  moral  phi- 
losophy and  belles-lettres.  In  scholarship  and  in  brill- 
iancy of  intellect,  as  a  conversationalist,  a  debater  and 
preacher,  he  was  one  of  the  rare  men  of  Methodism. 
After  serving  as  professor  he  was  at  last  chosen  presi- 
dent, and  remained  in  that  office  till  1849.  He  died  at 
Neville,  Ohio,  on  the  4th  of  Jnne,  1853.  Art,  science 
and  religion  mourned  his  untimely  end. 

Henry  Bidleman  Bascom,  who  filled  the  chair  of 
moral  science  and  belles-lettres,  was  <me  of  the  most  re- 
markable ministers  in  Methodist  history.  He  had  no 
advantages  of  early  education,  and  the  need  of  his 
family  demanded  his  utmost  energy  and  care  as  a  boy. 
But  he  entered  our  itinerancy  in  his  seventeenth  year, 
and  through  incredible  difficulties  and  painful  prejudices 
made  his  way  to  the  very  front  of  the  American  pulpit. 
So  great  was  the  influence  of  his  eloquence  upon  Henry 
Clay  that,  through  his  advocacy,  in  1823  he  was  elected 
chaplain  to  the  lower  House  of  Congress.  In  1827  he 
was  elected  president  of  Madison  College,  Pa.  He  filled 
in  succession  the  most  distinguished  positions  in  the 
Church,  and  in  1850  was  made  Bishop  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church,  South.  On  September  8,  of  the 
same  year,  he  died  at  Louisville,  Ky.,  in  the  fifty-fourth 
year  of  his  age. 

In  this  college,  distinguished  by  the  talents,  virtues, 
and  labors  of  these  men,  John  P.  Durbin  began  his  life 
as  an  educator.  There  he  showed  his  ability  to  simplify 
truth,  to  communicate  thought,  to  impress  principles, 


52 


JOHN  P.  DUB  BIX. 


and  to  impart  to  young  men  the  noble  sense  of  their 
responsibility,  their  duty,  and  their  hope.  Here  he  so 
explained  the  difficult  that  the  least  receptive  imbibed 
knowledge,  and  the  dullest  intellect  could  not  say  "  the 
subject  is  dark."  Here  he  added  to  his  already  remark- 
able ability  in  judging  men. 

Will  they  who  recall  those  days  of  their  college-life 
at  Augusta  ever  forget  them  ?  Will  they  forget  these 
honored  teachers,  these  sublime  preachers '?  Will  they 
ever  forget  their  massive  and  eloquent  sermons,  the 
eagerness  with  which  they  heard  them,  the  miles  they 
sometimes  walked  to  listen  to  the  discourses — when  they 
preached  at  distant  points — that  must  ever  abide  ? 

Will  the  writer  be  pardoned  for  expressing  the  belief 
that  never  on  this  continent  has  any  college  had  more 
able  and  eloquent  and  overpowering  discourses  than 
those  delivered  by  the  men  of  that  faculty  in  this  our 
first  college? 

The  desirableness  of  Methodist  colleges,  and  the  fruits 
of  this  one  now  established  at  Augusta,  were  soon  seen 
in  the  students  that  entered  it  from  Methodist  families 
at  even  remote  points,  and  the  position  in  society  that 
they  took  after  their  return  from  this  institution.  The 
writer  well  remembers  on  one  of  his  first  circuits — Acco- 
mack County,  Va. — two  young  men  who  went  to  Au- 
gusta, and  on  return  cherished  happy  memories  of  the 
college,  and  showed  in  their  wider  spheres  the  advan- 
tages of  their  course.  Robert  J.  Poulson,  son  of  Major 
Poulson,  of  Onancock,  in  a  short  time  represented  his 
county  in  the  Legislature  of  Virginia,  and  Albert  Melvin, 
son  of  a  devout  widow  near  Hearntown,  graduated  to 
the  bar  in  Drumraondtown,  of  his  native  county. 

From  New  York  went  one  son  of  the  Rev.  Samuel 
Merwin,  the  present  Rev.  John  B.  Merwin,  D.D.,  long 
an  honored  member  and  now  the  oldest  effective  minis- 


MEMOIR. 


53 


ter  in  the  New  York  East  Conference.  Nor  can  the 
Church  forget  what  she  has  received  through  two  of 
the  early  students  of  Augusta  still  with  us,  Bishop 
Randolph  S.  Foster,  D.D.,  LL.D.,  and  the  Rev.  John 
Miley,  D.D.,  Professor  of  Dogmatic  Theology  in  H  the 
Drew  Theological  Seminary." 

One  of  the  first  cares  of  Professor  Durbin  was  to  ob- 
tain funds  for  the  college,  and  he  spent  the  year  1825 
in  the  South  and  East  making  collections  in  money  and 
books  for  the  school,  and  he  says,  "I  collected  about 
$4,000  in  money  and  1,000  books."  This  result  might 
astonish  us  at  this  time  when  colleges  receive  such 
princely  donations.  It  might  be  supposed  that  this  was 
only  gleaning.  No,  it  was  reaping  ;  and  that  when  the 
sickle  was  in  a  skillful  hand.  If  John  P.  Durbin  did 
not  know  how  to  appeal  to  the  intelligent  and  strong 
men  of  the  Church  and  to  collect  for  a  college,  then  the 
writer,  who  had  evidence  of  his  labors,  is  at  a  loss  to  find 
the  man  who  does.  Yet,  with  all  his  ability,  one  year 
gave  him  only  $4,000  in  money.  It  is  not  easy  for  those 
who  live  sixty  years  after  those  days  to  judge  the  facts. 
Our  country  in  1825  was  rich  in  territory,  in  talent,  in 
patriotism  and  virtue,  but  not  in  money.  The  popula- 
tion was  sparse  and  there  were  few  men  of  wealth 
among  us.  Methodists  were  not  rich,  and  to  them 
chiefly  was  the  appeal. 

The  writer  remembers  when,  for  the  raising  of  $1,000 
at  the  dedication  of  one  of  our  ablest  churches,  the  fact 
was  heralded  as  an  illustration  of  what  great  things 
Methodists  can  do  when  they  fully  set  themselves  about 
it.  Nor  has  he  forgotten  that  when  in  a  borough  of 
8,000  people  be  undertook  to  build  a  church  it  was  as- 
sumed if  we  could  get  the  strongest  man  in  the  society 
to  give  $100  we  should  accomplish  the  work  which, 
from  the  lack  of  such  liberality  in  former  times,  had  in 


54 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


repeated  trials  caused  failure.  The  $100  was  given  by 
the  man,  and  $50  was  afterward  added.  The  walls  rose  and 
the  church  was  dedicated,  and  still  stands,  and  is  crowned 
with  honor.  It  was  $100  for  their  own  purposes  that 
was  asked. 

Nor  must  it  be  forgotten  that  $4,000  then  would  go 
as  far,  perhaps,  as  four  times  that  sum  now. 

1826.  Professor  Durbin  writes:  "  Nothing  of  great 
consequence  occurred  this  year  except  my  acquaintance 
with  my  wife,  and  this  is  not  of  much  consequence  to 
any  but  myself."  On  entering  the  ministry  he  adopted 
for  his  motto  Job  xxxi.  1:  "I  made  a  covenant  with 
mine  eyes;  why  then  should  I  think  upon  a  maid?"  It 
might  excite  no  wonder  that  with  his  experience  of  less 
than  $50  a  year,  and  with  the  fact  before  him  that  his  de- 
vout and  educated  colleague  in  live  years  had  not  received 
more  than  $500  or  $600,  and  then  had  to  leave  the  min- 
istry and  go  into  business,  one  might  justly  ask,  Why 
should  I  think  upon  a  maid  ?  Surely  not  to  take  care 
of  her,  and  he  might  not  wish  her  to  take  care  of  him. 
In  the  days  of  early  Methodism  many  ministers  had  to 
leave  the  itinerancy  when  they  married,  as  they  could 
not  obtain  support.  It  was  a  grief  to  Bishop  Asbury, 
who  never  felt  that  he  was  in  a  position  to  take  proper 
care  of  a  wife  up  to  1836.  The  Discipline  required  a 
young  preacher  to  remain  single  four  years,  or  at  least 
till  admitted  to  the  Conference. 

But  a  weighty  reason  for  Mr.  Durbin's  making  this 
covenant  was,  that  he  wished  to  give  himself  wholly  to 
study  till  he  had  compassed  his  end  and  made  a  charac- 
ter. But  now  the  seven  years  were  passed,  the  condi- 
tions of  the  covenant  had  been  kept,  and  he  allowed 
himself  to  think  upon  a  companion,  and  on  the  6th  of 
September,1827,he  was  married  to  Miss  Frances  B.  Cook, 
daughter  of  Alexander  Cook,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia,  and 


MEMO  IR  55 

in  his  noble  companion  God  showed  him  how  in  a  wife 
he  can  honor  him  who  first  seeks  the  divine  honor. 

In  1828  he  writes,  "I  have  anticipated  1827."  This 
was  in  his  marriage.  He  says:  "We  spent  a  pleasant 
ye  ar  with  Mrs.  Sarah  Armstrong,  with  whom  we  boarded, 
and  who  is  one  of  the  excellent  of  the  earth.  On  the 
16th  day  of  December  of  this  year  our  first  child  was 
born,  a  daughter  named  Augusta,  after  our  collegb,  ^nd 
Ann,  after  her  grandmother  Cook."  .  .  .  No  change  of 
relation  or  domestic  cares  relaxed  his  energy  in  the 
work  of  God. 

In  1829  he  says:  "In  the  fall  of  this  year  we  visited 
Philadelphia  to  see  our  friends."  But  he  spent  the  year 
in  making  collections  for  the  college.  The  winter  was 
passed  chiefly  in  Washington  City,  endeavoring  to  get  a 
bill  passed  giving  the  college  a  township  of  land.  He 
says:  "  I  got  it  reported,  passed  to  a  second  reading,  and 
then  it  was  laid  on  the  table  in  the  Senate."  Here,  as 
in  every  place,  we  see  the  man  in  purpose,  in  his  re- 
sources, in  his  perseverance.  He  put  himself  into  what- 
ever he  undertook,  so  as  to  secure  all  that  earnestness 
and  effort  made  possible.  Had  he  been  successful  in  his 
proposition  to  Congress  a  future  would  have  been  se- 
cured to  the  institution  that  the  innovations  of  time 
might  not  have  harmed. 

In  1829  he  was  nominated  to  the  chaplaincy  of  the 
United  States  Senate.  There  was  a  tie  vote,  and  John 
C.  Calhoun,  President  of  the  Senate,  gave  the  casting 
vote  against  him.  On  receiving  additional  information 
he  regretted  his  action  and  sent  for  Mr.  Durbin  and 
apologized,  and  some  of  the  political  friends  of  Calhoun 
told  him  he  had  made  the  mistake  of  his  life.  Mr.  Cal- 
houn assured  Mr.  Durbin  he  voted  for  the  other  candi- 
date only  because  he  was  a  minister  of  the  same  church 
to  which  his  mother  belonged. 


56 


JOIIX  P.  DUBBIN. 


In  1830  he  gays:  "  I  sent  to  London  for  some  apparatus 
for  Augusta  College." 

The  Rev.  D.  Stevenson,  of  Barbourville,  Ky.,  writes: 
"  The  only  piece  of  apparatus  of  any  value  that  still  re- 
mains in  the  old  college  building  is  a  telescope  secured 
to  the  college  by  the  labors  of  Dr.  Durbin." 

Professor  Durbin  says:  "On  the  16th  of  November, 
1830,  our  second  child,  a  daughter,  was  born  in  Augusta, 
Ky.,  whom  we  called  Margaret,  after  her  aunt  Margaret 
Cook."  This  daughter  was  the  late  Mrs.  Fletcher  Har- 
per, J r.,  an  honor  to  her  sex,  and  a  benefactress  in  society. 
Of  1830  Professor  .Durbin  says:  "This  was  a  year  of  a 
good  deal  of  anxiety  and  some  perplexity  which  I  need 
not  describe  ;  but  losing  a  little  confidence  in  the  institu- 
tion's prospects,  especially  pecuniary,  and  not  seeing 
how  to  remedy  it,  I  determined  to  resign,  and  did  so 
August  6,  1831."  He  adds:  "Upon  my  resignation  at 
the  commencement  of  the  college  information  from 
Philadelphia  of  the  dangerous  illness  of  Mrs.  Cook 
arrived.  Myself  and  family  set  out  for  Philadelphia 
August  8."  They  reached  the  city  through  many  diffi- 
culties from  modes  of  conveyance  and  the  sickness  of 
Miss  Margaret  Cook,  who  had  been  stopping  with  them 
in  Augusta.  They  accomplished  their  journey  in  time 
to  see  Mrs.  Cook  pass  from  the  cares  of  earth  to  her 
reward  in  heaven.  September  25  he  writes  :  "At  the 
invitation  of  preacher  and  trustees  of  the  church  in 
Baltimore  I  spent  a  quarter  of  a  year  with  them.  It 
was  a  season  of  great  peace  to  my  own  heart  and  of  some 
good,  I  hope,  to  the  church.  I  <renerally  spoke  publicly 
three  times  a  week,  and  as  I  did  not  like  preaching  at 
night  I  preached  at  3  o'clock  P.  M." 

Professor  Durbin  had  done  his  utmost  for  the  inter- 
ests of  Augusta  College.  Much  of  his  time  had  been 
given  to  the  raising  of  means  to  sustain  the  efforts, 


MEMOIR. 


57 


meet  the  expenses,  and  maintain  the  reputation  of  the 
institution.  But  all  who  read  the  history  of  our  colleges 
know  that  while  a  few  are  richly  endowed,  many,  with 
the  best  men  at  their  head,  and  planted  when  the  de- 
mand seemed  imperative,  have  languished  and  expired. 
Dickinson  College  came  into  our  hands  after  having  in 
its  trustees  some  of  the  greatest  men  in  America  and  in 
its  faculty  some  of  the  ablest  scholars  and  preachers, 
and  that  when  the  locality  made  so  strong  an  appeal 
and  Presbyterian  prestige  was  back  of  it.  So,  alas! 
after  long  and  painful  struggles  to  sustain  itself,  in 
1849  Augusta  College,  with  all  the  hopes  that  it  had 
inspired,  and  with  all  the  good  it  had  accomplished, 
broke  down  from  the  withdrawal  of  the  patronage  of 
the  Kentucky  Conference  and  the  repeal  of  the  charter 
by  the  legislature  of  the  State. 

Of  the  deep  devotion  of  Professor  Durbin  to  this  col- 
lege we  have  most  eloquent  proof  in  the  name  of  his  first 
born,  now  Mrs.  Augusta  A.  Whitaker  of  Philadelphia. 
Though  the  college  has  ceased  she  lives,  and  we  trust 
M  ill  long  live  to  perpetuate  the  virtues  of  her  parents 
and  the  name  of  the  institution  that  was  a  demonstra- 
tion of  the  zeal  of  Methodism  in  higher  education,  that 
received  so  much  of  her  father's  sympathy,  support,  and 
wisdom,  and  that  for  nearly  a  generation  was  so  highly 
honored  in  the  men  it  graduated. 

While  the  extinction  of  such  a  light  in  Kentucky 
leaves  gloom  in  the  community  it  is  the  Church's  jo'y 
that  there  are  now  twenty-six  universities  and  col- 
leges, fourteen  female  colleges,  and  sixty-one  semi- 
naries and  academies,  all  of  them  denominational 
institutions,  under  the  immediate  patronage  and  control 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  To  these  are  to 
be  added  three  well-appointed  and  well-endowed  theo- 
logical schools.     The  buildings  and  grounds  belong- 


58 


JOHX  P.  DURBIX. 


ing  to  these  institutions  are  valued  at  $8,000,000.  Their 
endowment  funds  amount  to  near  86,000,000,  and  their 
annual  income  is  not  far  from  8800,000. 

For  the  cause  of  education  the  Church  now  makes 
such  an  exhibition  as  justifies  exultation.  If  the  first 
light  in  Kentucky  ceased,  a  hundred  others  blaze  over 
the  land,  and  Methodist  education  shines  all  through 
the  republic. 

In  the  department  of  education  a  wide  door  was 
quickly  opened  for  Professor  Durbin,  as  in  1831  he  was 
appointed  professor  of  natural  science  in  the  Wesleyan 
University,  at  Middletown,  Conn.  He  had  evidently 
cherished  fondness  for  this  department  of  study.  His 
first  appearance  of  which  we  have  knowledge  in  the 
way  of  authorship  is  in  an  improved  edition  of  the 
Mosaic  History  of  the  Creation  of  the  World,  by 
Thomas  Wood,  A.  M. 

The  original  work,  by  Mr.  Wood,  shows  research  and 
learning.  The  later,  of  Professor  Durbin,  greatly  broad- 
ens and  advances  it  in  the  more  modern  discoveries  of 
science.  The  introduction,  written  by  him,  is  brief,  di- 
rect, and  intelligent.  The  Notes  through  the  book  are 
many,  ample,  and  weighty.  They  show  an  acuteness 
and  discipline  of  mind  that  are  an  honor  to  an  author 
of  thirty-one  years.  About  this  time  he  also  edited  for 
J.  &  J.  Harper  LyelVs  Geology. 

These  Notes  of  Professor  Durbin,  in  their  scope,  de- 
sign, and  influence  are  largely  of  the  character  of  the 
Bridgewater  Treatises,  showing  the  power,  wisdom,  and. 
goodness  of  God.  They  also  antagonize  the  theologi- 
cal teachings  of  Dr.  Priestley. 


MEMOIR.  KQ 


CHAPTER  IV. 
Chaplain  to  the  United  States  Senate. 

¥E  have  seen  that  in  1829  Professor  Durbin  failed 
of  election  to  this  chaplaincy  on  a  tie  vote,  in  which 
John  C.  Calhoun,  as  president  of  the  Senate,  through 
misapprehension,  gave  the  casting  vote  for  another. 

But  on  the  19th  of  December,  1831,  writes  Professor 
Durbin  :  "This  day  I  left  Baltimore  for  Philadelphia, 
where  my  family  is.  Next  day  I  received  intelligence 
from  Washington  City  that  I  was  elected  chaplain  to 
the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  This  was  very  unex- 
pected news  indeed.  I  had  not  solicited  the  place  ;  I 
had  not  been  to  Washington  for  nearly  two  years;  I 
did  not  know  that  any  such  project  was  intended  until 
the  fact  was  announced  to  me  in  Philadelphia.  The 
election  was  made  on  the  day  I  left  Baltimore.  As  I 
had  already  accepted  the  appointment  of  professor  of 
natural  science  in  the  Wesleyau  University  at  Middle- 
town,  Conn,  I  hesitated  about  accepting  the  appoint- 
ment of  the  Senate.  Finally,  upon  weighing  the  whole 
subject,  with  advice  from  friends  and  consent  of  the 
president  of  the  university,  I  accepted,  and  arrived  in 
Washington,  January  3,  1832." 

In  the  following  papers  he  gives  his  reasoning  as  to 
the  acceptance  of  the  honor,  the  responsibility  it  in- 
volves, and  clearly  shows  the  spirit  with  which  he  entered 
upon  the  duties  and  strove  to  discharge  the  obligations 
of  the  place,  while  he  justly  conceived  and  forcibly  ex- 
pressed the  possibilities  of  usefulness  in  one  who  prop- 
erly filled  the  office. 


60 


JOHN  P.  DURE IX. 


We  have  the  reasonings  of  a  clear  mind  and  the  as- 
pirations of  a  devout  heart  as  he  withstood  those  prej- 
udices that  statements  of  the  difficulties  of  the  place 
would  have  created. 

It  is  to  the  honor  of  those  whom  he  served,  and  a 
commendation  of  the  discretion,  the  dignity,  the  Chris- 
tian devotion,  and  the  eloquence  of  the  man,  that  as 
chaplain  he  had  encouragements  and  supports  that 
probably  transcended  his  strongest  faith.    He  says  : 

"  I  undertook  this  duty  with  fear  and  trembling ; 
and  do  earnestly  pray  I  may  prove  the  means  of  com- 
fort and  good  to  those  to  whom  I  minister. 

"I  preached  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representa- 
tives, January  8,  1832,  from  '  Christ  vxis  once  offered 
for  sin,  the  just  for  the  unjust,  thai  he  might  bring  us  to 
God?  and  again  on  the  23  d,  from  *  Fig  Jit  the  good  fight 
of  faith,9  etc. 

"Judging  from  the  deep  and  almost  breathless  atten- 
tion, and  other  indications,  I  have  presumed  to  hope 
some  good  was  done  in  the  immense  assembly.  Indeed, 
I  have  since  seen  some  little  fruit  of  it.  On  the  24th 
of  January  I  received,  a  letter  signed  '  a  young  man,' 
expressing  his  great  distress,  and  wishing  my  prayers; 
and  this  day  (January  24)  one  of  the  members  (Mr. 
Howard,  of  Baltimore)  requested  me  to  call  and  see  Mrs. 
Howard,  at  her  earnest  request.  He  seemed  concerned 
that  I  should  call,  and  observed  his  wife  was  a  Presby- 
terian, belonging  to  Mr.  Nevins's  church,  Baltimore,  but 
hoped  that  would  not  prevent  my  calling.  Surely  not ; 
and  I  promised  to  call.  .  .  . 

The  Senate. 

"  Previously  to  my  serving  in  the  capacity  of  chap- 
lain I  had  supposed  that  the  Senate  and  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives showred  very  little  respect  for  religion  or 


MEMOIR. 


61 


religious  services.  I  had  taken  up  this  opinion  from 
the  remarks  of  some  who  had  served,  and  others  also. 
Rev.  Mr.  B.  told  me  he  resigned  because  of  the  irrev- 
erence of  the  members.  But  I  must  here  do  justice  to 
both  Houses,  and  say  I  have  not  seen  them  deficient  or 
disrespectful  in  regard  to  religious  services  either  in 
the  ordinary  morning  services  or  those  of  the  Sabbath. 
I  cannot  hope  to  say  prayers  for  a  more  respectful  body, 
and  I  am  sure  I  cannot  desire  to  preach  to  a  more  re- 
spectful and  attentive  assembly.  Some,  no  doubt,  will 
dissent  from  this.  I  cannot  help  it  ;  I  speak  and  write 
what  I  see  and  know.  \ 

"I  do  not  intend  to  say  that  the  members  are  relig- 
ious when  I  say  they  are  respectful  to  religion  ;  but  let 
religion  approach  them  as  she  ought  and  she  does  not 
meet  with  a  rude  repulse. 

1832.    Washington  City. 

"Employment  of  Time. — As  the  winter  had  already 
set  in  before  I  left  Philadelphia  Mrs.  Durbin  did  not 
accompany  me,  and  I  am  here  alone,  boarding  in  the 
family  of  a  worthy  friend,  Mr.  Enoch  Tucker.  1  have 
a  delightful  room  in  the  third  story  (the  second  being 
parlors,  and  the  lower  kitchen  and  dining-room),  well 
furnished  and  completely  retired.  My  windows  look  to 
the  south,  a  little  east.  I  leave  one  window-curtain 
drawn  aside  that  I  may  see  when  4  jocund  day  stands 
tiptoe  on  the  misty  mountain's  top.'  I  usually  rise  then, 
sometimes  before,  shave  with  cold  water,  dress,  say  my 
prayers,  and,  if  the  morning  be  favorable,  take  a  walk, 
or  rather  a  run,  throwing  my  hands  about  and  lifting 
up  my  arms  as  high  as  I  can,  in  order  to  stretch  my 
limbs  and  dilate  the  chest,  etc. 

"  I  find  this  good  exercise,  and  return  to  read  a  por- 
tion in  the  Old,  and  one  in  the  New  Testament,  before 


62 


JOHX  P.  L  URBIX. 


proceeding  to  the  morning  reading,  which  is  now  geol- 
ogy. If  I  find  any  thing  curious  or  doubtful  in  my 
Scripture  lessons  I  consult  some  commentary  as  a  help. 

"I  shall  not  say  any  thing  of  my  scientific  reading 
he?'e,  except  to  mention  the  authors.  I  have  just  finished 
Bakenelly's  Geology,  having  made  extracts  and  memo- 
randa of  it  in  a  book  for  that  purpose. 

"I  generally  go  to  the  Capitol,  when  it  is  my  week  to 
serve,  at  half  past  eleven  A.  M.;  when  it  is  not  my 
week  to  serve,  1  go  up  between  eleven  and  twelve 
o'clock,  and  devote  the  time  to  miscellaneous  reading 
in  the  splendid  library  saloon,  which  is  well  furnished 
with  books,  chairs,  tables,  ink,  pens,  paper,  etc.,  and  kept 
well-manned. 

"  The  chaplains  generally  serve  alternately  for  a  week 
and  preach  in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives 
alternately  on  Sabbath  morning.  We  serve  the  House 
first;  go  into  the  hall  five  or  ten  minutes  before  the 
time;  when  the  Speaker  conies  in  he  knocks  on  the 
clerk's  desk  with  his  knife,  and  all  rise  and  stand  during 
prayer,  which  occupies  about  one  and  a  half  or  two 
minutes;  which  should  generally  be  ended  with  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  as  some  of  the  members  requested  a 
chaplain  before  me,  and  which  is  certainly  proper.  The 
chaplain  then  immediately  repairs  to  the  Senate  cham- 
ber and  performs  prayers  in  a  similar  manner.  Both 
houses  are  generally  very  respectful  to  the  service*. 

"I  am  convinced  many  ministers  misjudge  the  manner 
in  which  religious  services  should  be  performed  here. 
I  make  them  as  simple  and  devout  as  I  cnn  in  morning 
prayers,  varying  occasionally  with  grateful  reference  to 
the  providence  of  God  in  giving  us  independence  and 
liberty,  filling  our  land  with  peace  and  plenty,  and  to 
the  necessity  of  wisdom  and  heavenly  guidance  in  order 
to  be  able  to  do  the  duties  of  legislators  for  a  great 


MEMOIR. 


03 


nation,  and  to  the  necessity  v:e  are  under  (for  I  identify 
myself  in  prayer  with  the  members)  of  commending  our 
f i a tilies  to  the  paternal  guardianship  of  Heaven.  In 
preaching,  select  plain  and  important  subjects — impor- 
tant because  they  present  some  grand  leading  point  in 
the  salvation  of  men.  Discuss  them  calmly,  clearly,  and 
forcibly,  with  a  mixture  of  argument,  reflection,  and  (if 
judiciously  done)  anecdote  rarely,  and  apply  the  whole 
at  every  opportunity,  and,  in  conclusion,  with  as  great 
earnestness  and  power  as  you  possibly  can. 

"  I  have  not  the  presumption  to  hope  I  shall  be  the 
instrument  of  great  immediate  good  to  the  members, 
as  their  political  employments  and  associations  stand 
greatly  in  the  way.  But  I  do  hope  for  three  great  ad- 
vantages: 

"  1.  To  elevate  and  impress  the  national  mind  favor- 
ably to  religion  by  the  uniform  and  profound  respect 
which  our  national  Congress  evinces  toward  its  institu- 
tions and  ordinances. 

"  2.  By  this  same  respect,  to  cause  religion  to  find  a 
lodgment  in  their  minds  which  shall  shut  out  infidelity. 

"  3.  To  make  good  impressions  on  individual  minds 
which  may  awake  to  life  in  after  years  and  under  bet- 
ter circumstances,  and  bear  the  fruit  of  salvation. 

"  I  will  simply  record  my  opinion  here  of  the  great 
advantage  to  any  Church  to  have  an  efficient  and  able 
minister  as  chaplain  to  Congress.  It  brings  that  Church 
more  before  the  eye  of  the  world.  The  vast  concourse 
of  strangers  as  well  as  members,  from  every  part  of  the 
country,  then  hear  the  words  of  life  occasionally  from 
a  Methodist  minister  who  had  been  in  the  habit  of  sup- 
posing no  such  minister  could  be  fit  to  preach.  A  fa- 
vorable impression  is  thus  made,  and  tolerance  and  even 
liberality  of  feeling,  which  is  often  improved  into  good- 
will and  respect,  grow  from   these  occasions.  Our 


64 


JOIIX  P.  DUR'BIX. 


friends  should  not  contend  improperly  for  the  place,  but 
should  take  any  reasonable  and  proper  means  of  having 
it  filled  efficiently. 

"  /Saturday,  Jan.  28.— Saturday  and  Sabbath  I  gener- 
ally devote  to  religious  and  moral  reading,  and  I  must 
here  say  by  '  miscellaneous  reading  '  in  the  library  I  do 
not  mean  strolling  from  alcove  to  alcove,  and  from  chap- 
ter to  chapter,  and  from  book  to  book  ;  but  I  select  a 
book  and  read  it  through,  or  read  throughout  the  sub- 
ject I  have  selected  in  it. 

"  I  have  hitherto  appropriated  my  miscellaneous  read- 
ing to  Germany.  It  is  an  interesting  country,  and  not 
generally  well  known.  I  have  read  the  papers  in  the 
American  Quarterly  Review  on  '  German  Literature.' 
They  are  very  good,  and  would  bear  a  reperusal.  I 
read  the  first  volume  of  Hodyskhts  Travels.  This  is 
good  in  order  to  get  an  insight  into  German  manners 
and  customs  in  the  lower  walks  of  life.  He  was  a  pe- 
destrian traveler.  His  second  volume  is  devoted  exclu- 
sively, or  nearly  so,  to  Hanover,  its  government  and 
statistics  of  every  description,  and  to  German  literature 
and  universities.  Of  these  I  did  not  think  him  a  com- 
petent judge,  and  therefore  have  commenced  reading 
RusselFs  Travels  in  Germany.  His  volume  is  a  very 
good  one,  though  it  is  deeply  tinctured  with  irreverence 
for  religion,  if  not  actual  hostility  to  it. 

"I  felt,  of  course,  more  interested  in  the  schools  and 
literature  of  Germany.  Scarcely  a  century  since  Ger- 
many could  be  said  to  have  a  national  literature. 
Wieland,  Klopstock,  Schiller,  Goethe,  Herder,  etc.,  laid 
the  foundation  of  German  literature.  All  of  these,  ex- 
cept Klopstock,  were  collected  at  the  court  of  Weimar, 
and  chiefly  around  Amelia  the  duchess.  Hence  Weimar 
may  be  said  to  have  taken  the  lead  in  the  higher  litera- 
ture.   It  is  very  probable  we  have  not  yet  correct  and 


MEMOIR. 


65 


full  ideas  of  the  extent  and  excellence  of  German 
literature. 

"  Their  universities  are  founded  on  the  same  general 
plan  ;  namely,  a  small  fixed  salary,  with  privilege  of 
lecturing  on  any  subject  they  please,  besides  the  one 
committed  to  them  by  their  appointment.  Hence  there 
is  great,  and  in  some  cases  unpleasant,  competition,  as 
one  professor  may  invade  the  province  of  another,  and 
there  is  no  remedy  but  superior  talents  and  popularity. 

"  They  do  not  generally  have  university  and  college 
buildings,  as  other  European  universities.  For  instance, 
at  Gottingen  the  number  of  rooms  registered  for  the 
accommodation  of  students  was  above  1,000  in  various 
parts  of  the  town.  Each  student  selects  his  own  room 
and  restauretum,  or  boarding-house,  from  those  regis- 
tered, and  he  is  registered  on  the  books  of  the  university 
accordingly.  If  he  change,  the  change  must  be  regis- 
tered. The  students  are  allowed  to  attend  such  lect- 
ures as  they  may  choose.  There  are  from  800  to  1,200 
students  generally  at  Gottingen,  and  above  seventy 
professors.    Such  were  the  facts  of  that  period. 

"  Their  recitation  rooms  are  provided  by  the  profess- 
ors. The  library  is  the  first  great  concern  of  the  uni- 
versity, and  its  general  fixtures,  collections,  etc.,  in 
which  there  is  much  more  attention  to  utility  than  to 
splendor.  Hence  the  means  of  education  are  at  Got- 
tingen more  abundant  and  probably  superior  to  any 
other  university. 

"Notwithstanding  the  reputation  of  this  university 
and  its  professors  they  can  scarcely  provide  suitably  for 
their  families  if  they  should  die.  Hence  there  is  a 
widows'  fund  attached  to  the  university,  partly  given 
by  the  Government,  partly  by  private  donations,  partly 
by  the  professors,  for  the  support  of  their  widows  and 
orphans  in  case  of  their  death. 
6 


6(5 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


"  Prussia  is  said  to  be  very  careful  of  the  interests  of 
education.  Education  and  religion  are  joined  and  are 
committed  to  a  proper  minister  of  the  crown,  resident 
at  Berlin,  who  has  charge  of  the  whole  interest.  The 
ministers  of  the  Church  are  made  to  serve  an  appren- 
ticeship to  school  teaching  before  they  take  charge  pas- 
toral. The  minister  of  education  and  religion  directs 
the  department  by  means  of  the  consistorium  in  the 
several  districts  of  the  several  circles  of  the  Government. 
Education  is  said  to  be  more  generally  diffused  in  Prus- 
sia than  in  any  country  in  the  world. 

"  Austria,  capital  Vienna,  300,000  population — very 
luxurious  and  very  licentious.  No  liberty  of  speech 
because  of  the  secret  police,  no  liberty  of  press  because 
of  the  censorship.  In  a  population  of  23,000,000  of 
souls  about  thirty  newspapers.  Austria  has  very  little 
sea-coast;  Trieste  her  only  sea-port,  properly  speaking. 
But  she  has  an  ample  and  fertile  territory,  and  some  of 
the  noblest  rivers  in  the  world. 

"  There  are  districts  of  great  interest  to  the  mineral- 
ogist and  geologist.  The  salt  mines,  not  far  from  Cra- 
cow, in  Poland,  and  the  quicksilver  mines  in  Idria,  in 
the  mountains  at  the  head  of  the  Sarc. 

"  Austria  is  justly  considered  the  most  despotic  and 
intolerant  government  in  Europe.  She  does  not  encour- 
age liberal  education,  but  rather  takes  every  means  to 
keep  her  people  in  ignorance.  Prussia,  in  this  respect, 
has  set  Austria  a  noble  example.  Under  the  adminis- 
tration of  Stein  and  Hardenberg  she  created  the  peas- 
antry real  and  independent  land-holders,  and  instituted 
universities,  and  supports  them  liberally.  Yet  the  great 
mass  of  the  population  in  Austria  is  as  contented  as  in 
Prussia,  except  her  Italian  subjects.  But  they  are  con- 
tented on  different  principles;  namely,  the  enjoyment  of 
a  great  majority  of  the  political  arrangements  which 


MEMOIR. 


07 


benefit  a  country.  The  Austrian  population  is  happy 
because  it  is  devoted  to  pleasure,  and  the  fertility  of 
the  soil  is  such  as  to  prevent  actual  want;  and  they  are 
not  concerned  about  the  administration  of  the  govern- 
ment, in  which  they  have  no  part. 

"  From  these  circumstances  the  Austrians  are  fond 
of  the  fine  arts  and  exhibitions  which  impart  pleasure, 
but  can  scarcely  boast  a  single  Austrian  author  of  ce- 
lebrity. They  are  passionately  fond  of  music,  operas, 
dancing,  theaters,  etc. ;  but  they  have  no  native  com- 
posers or  performers  of  merit;  and  though  all  play  on 
many  or  even  most  instruments  of  music,  they  are 
chiefly  imitators,  and  perform  well  from  practice. 

"  1832.  Monday,  Jan.  30. —  Yesterday  morning  I 
preached  in  Georgetown  to  a  good  audience  and  saw 
some  of  my  old  friends. 

"  Tuesday,  Jan.  31. — Went  to  Alexandria  to  assist  in 
a  missionary  meeting  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 
A  pleasant  meeting. 

"  Wednesday,  Feb.  1. — Called  to  see  Bishop  McKen- 
dree  at  Mr.  McKenney's,  Georgetown,  and  found  him 
quite  unwell.  He  is  a  venerable  old  man,  full  of  days 
and  good  fruits,  and  his  end  doubtless  will  be  peace^ 
May  it  indeed  be  so." 

He  Gives  His  Estimate  of  Clay  and  Webster. 

"  Thursday  and  Friday,  Feb.  2,  3.— Mr.  Clay.  I  have 
heard  this  gentleman  on  the  great  question  of  the  Amer- 
ican System,  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States.  It  is 
allowed  on  all  hands  it  was  his  master  effort.  I  have 
heard  him  with  deep  interest,  and  after  careful  reflec- 
tion I  must  say  he  is  not  a  finished  orator  according  to 
the  rules.  He  has  not  the  elegance,  grace,  and  dignity 
of  action  and  speech  which  become  his  years,  his  rank 
(senator),  and  the  place  in  which  he  was  Rpeaking. 


G8 


JOHN  P.  DURE IX. 


Yet  he  is  eloquent,  very  eloquent ;  he  has  the  power  of 
arresting  the  attention  forcibly  and  detaining  it  irre- 
sistibly, and  this  must  be  eloquence.  He  is  very  vehe- 
ment at  times:  frequently  pleasant,  and  sometimes  too 
low  in  his  style,  evidently  evincing  a  disposition  to 
make  himself  agreeable  to  the  superficial  when  he  should 
win  the  judgment  of  the  profound.  Upon  the  whole  he 
is  a  good  parliamentary  speaker,  and  well  calculated  to 
be  a  leader  of  a  party.  He  is  a  powerful  man,  a  strong 
intellect,  but  he  has  not  the  intellectual  resources  and 
power  of  Webster.  He  has  too  much  volatility  to  make 
commanding  and  permanent  impressions. 

"  As  it  regards  Mr.  Clay's  policy  in  the  American  Sys- 
tem, I  must  think  his  general  principles  correct;  their 
details  in  the  present  tariff  may  be  injudicious." 

United  States  Senate,  Feb.  6,  1832. 

"I  heard  Mr.  Clay  nearly  three  hours  to-day  on  his 
motion  to  reduce  the  revenue  by  taking  off  the  duties  on 
imported  articles.  He  did  not  excel  himself  to-day,  though 
he  was  able.  I  have  no  doubt  but  his  policy  is  the  true 
interest  of  this  country ;  yet  he  does  not  advocate  it 
always  with  becoming  dignity.  In  speaking  of  his 
willingness  to  reduce  the  revenue  as  low  as  any  gentle- 
man of  the  United  States,  he  said:  '  They  shall  not  out- 
brag  me.'  His  references  to  sacred  Scripture  and  sacred 
subjects  were  not  always  hnppy  nor  always  correct — 
sometimes  savored  of  profanity.  For  instance,  he  said 
he  would  'take  his  oath  qii  the  holy  evangelists  of  Al 
mighty  God  that  General  Smith  (of  Maryland)  was  an 
enemy  to  the  American  System.'  But  the  termination 
of  the  session  was  a  personal  altercation  between  him- 
self and  Mr.  Smith.  Mr.  Smith  rose  and  said  he  could 
unfold  something,  but  would  not  be  personal.  Mr.  Clay 
called  to  him  to  speak  out.    Mr.  Smith  repeated  the  ex- 


MEMOIR. 


69 


pression,  he  could  but  would  not.  Mr.  Clay,  with  a  great 
deal  of  vehemence,  said  to  him  across  the  Senate  cham- 
ber: '  I  dare  you!  I  dare  you!'  *  Order!  order!'  from 
several  parts  of  the  Chamber  and  from  the  Chair. 
Senate  immediately  adjourned." 

Daniel  Webster. 

"  I  called  on  Mr.  Webster  this  morning.  He  was 
affable,  yet  dignified.  As  my  call  was  merely  respect- 
ful, our  conversation  was  promiscuous  and  diversified. 

"  There  is  something  sui  generis  indeed  in  Mr.  Web- 
ster, and  he  does  not  seem  to  be  insensible  to  it,  as  I 
heard  one  of  his  friends  remark  that  he  (Mr.  W.)  on 
being  asked  why  his  card  was  simply  Mr.  Webster,  and 
not  Daniel  Webster,  in  order  to  distinguish  himself  from 
others  of  the  name  of  Webster,  answered:  1 1  am  Mr. 
Webster.''  Others,  of  course,  might  put  their  given 
names  on  their  cards;  he  need  not.  Mr.  Adams's  card  is 
simply  1  Mr.  Adams '  also,  and  probably  for  the  same 
reason. 

M  Several  opportunities  of  hearing  Mr.  Webster  and  of 
observing  him  have  confirmed  the  opinion  I  had  taken 
up  two  years  since  ;  namely,  that  he  is  the  most  per- 
fectly full  and  ripe  man  of  this  country.  You  cannot 
hear  him  speak  or  be  in  his  presence  without  feeling 
that  he  is  a  superior  intellect,  every  way  exceeding  his 
fellows  in  strength  and  majesty  of  mind. 

"  Yet  Heaven  gives  not  every  thing  excellent  to  one 
being.  It  was  Mr.  Webster's  political  fault  or  misfor- 
tune to  be  too  closely  allied  to  the  measures  of  the  op- 
position in  New  England  to  the  last  war;  and  this  gave 
his  enemies  a  great  advantage  over  him. 

"  Mr.  Webster  is  justly  considered  the  great  bulwark 
of  our  Federal  Constitution,  and  I  think  it  probable 
that  he  may  be  more  serviceable  to  the  country  in  time 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


to  come  than  any  man  in  it.  I  believe  he  is  held  in  great 
respect  even  by  his  political  enemies,  and  every  stranger 
feels  a  curiosity  to  see  Mr.  Webster,  and  all  who  can 
call  on  him.  I  could  not  but  observe  the  great  number 
of  visiting-cards  stuck  in  his  mantel  glass  of  the  most 
distinguished  personages  in  the  country.  The  number 
and  respectability  of  visiting-cards  which  collect  in  one's 
drawing-room  may  not  be  an  incorrect  measure  of  the 
consideration  in  which  he  is  held.  I  observed  that 
Chief  Justice  Marshall  used  no  printed  cards,  but  wrote 
h  is  1 1  a  m  e  w  ith  a  pen . 

"  Feb.  22,  1832. — To-day  was  one  of  the  proudest 
days  of  America.  One  hundred  years  have  rolled  away 
since  the  birth  of  that  greatest  of  men,  George  Wash- 
ington. To  celebrate  this  day  in  an  appropriate  man- 
ner seemed  to  be  the  desire  of  the  whole  nation.  A 
joint  committee  from  both  Houses  of  our  National  Legis- 
lature for  the  purpose  of  making  arrangements  for  its 
celebration  directed  divine  service  to  be  performed  in 
the  Capitol.  This  was  well  done — wisely  done;  it  will 
be  grateful  to  the  nation  ;  we  owed  it  to  that  God 
whose  special  superintending  providence  guided  and  sup- 
ported us  through  our  Revolutionary  struggle.  The  per- 
formance of  the  service  was  left  to  the  two  chaplains. 
It  fell  to  my  lot  to  preach.  It  was  a  heavy  lot  indeed. 
Yet  I  determined  to  speak  in  honor  of  my  Master.  I 
knew  the  rulers  of  the  land  would  be  there,  and  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  the  bar;  indeed,  I  never  expect 
again  to  see  such  an  assembly;  I  therefore  determined 
to  present  the  worship  of  God  as  a  national  obligation." 

We  copy  the  following  from  a  paper  of  the  period  : 

Outlines  of  a  Discourse, 

delivered  at  the  request  of  both  Houses  of  Congress, 
in  the  hall  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  United 


MEMOIR. 


VI 


States,  on  the  Centennial  Birthday  of  George  Washing- 
ton, by  the  Rev.  John  P.  Durbin. 

u  Thou  art  icorthy,  0  Lord,  to  receive  glory  and  honor  and 
power :  for  thou  hast  created  all  things,  and  for  thy  jjleasure 
they  are  and  were  created."  Rev.  iv.  11. 

The  subject  which  the  text  presents  immediately  to 
our  consideration  is  the  worship  of  God ;  and  our 
appearance  in  this  hall,  by  a  joint  resolution  of  both 
Houses  of  our  National  Legislature,  for  the  purpose  of 
divine  service,  clearly  indicates  how  deeply  the  national 
mind  is  impressed  with  its  obligations  to  Heaven.  Our 
obligations  to  worship  Jehovah  are  founded,  mainly,  on 
his  infinite  excellence,  our  relations  to  hirn  as  his  creat- 
ures, and  his  benefits  to  us. 

It  is  fairly  to  be  inferred  that  the  present  service  was 
intended  to  recall,  in  some  degree,  our  national  obliga- 
tions to  God  for  his  beneficent  providence  toward  us  as 
exhibited  in  the  events  connected  more  or  less  inti- 
mately with  the  person  and  actions  of  George  Washing- 
ton, whom  we  rightly  call,  under  God,  the  lather  of  our 
country. 

It  certainly  was  not  intended  that  the  present  serv- 
ices should  partake  in  any  degree  of  the  nature  of  fun- 
eral obsequies  or  of  a  eulogium  on  that  illustrious  man  ; 
but  rather  an  offering  of  thanksgiving  to  our  common 
Lord  for  our  chief  national  blessings,  the  possession 
of  which  is  so  clearly  referred  to  his  agency  by  all  who 
bestow  a  moment's  reflection  on  our  history. 

It  would  be  a  pleasing  and  profitable  employment, 
and  might  well  consume  an  hour,  to  contemplate  the 
blessings  we  have  received  from  God,  in  all  their  bear- 
ings, as  a  cause  of  worship  and  gratitude  to  him.  In 
such  an  exercise  each  individual  heart  should  burn  with 
devotion,  which  would  be  abundantly  increased  by  con- 
templating the  innumerable  benefits  to  mankind  by  the 
wide  diffusion  and  firm  establishment  of  the  light  and 
institutions  of  religion. 

But  as  this  is  a  national  jubilee,  I  propose  to  contem- 
plate a  few  of  those  national  blessings  which  are  of 
national  interest,  and  which  ought  to  inspire  the  national 


72 


JOHX  P.  PURBIN. 


mind  with  a  sincere  and  permanent  devotion  to  God. 
It  is  scarcely  possible  to  mention  one  of  those  which 
may  not,  by  a  very  little*  effort  of  faith,  be  referred 
either  prospectively  or  directly  to  that  great  man  whose 
centennial  birthday  we  celebrate. 

1.  The  settlement  of  a  transatlantic  population  from 
Europe  on  the  shores  of  North  America  has  commanded 
the  astonishment  and  awakened  the  admiration  of  the 
whole  civilized  world.  The  causes  which  drove  the 
pilgrims  from  their  homes  in  the  Old  World,  the  strongly- 
marked  providences  which  directed  them  to  the  New, 
the  unearthly  fortitude  with  which  they  encountered 
and  endured  the  unparalleled  perils  and  difficulties  of 
their  novel  situation,  the  high,  holy,  and  apostolic  piety 
which  marked  their  general  character,  all  point  out  a 
superintending,  paternal,  and  almighty  hand. 

2.  Passing  over  a  wide  chasm  of  time,  from  the  land- 
ing of  the  pilgrims  to  the  commencement  of  the  diffi- 
culties between  the  colonies  and  the  mother  country,  it 
is  impossible  to  contemplate  the  ascendant  spirit  of  that 
period  without  perfect  astonishment  and  the  deepest 
conviction  that  it  was  awakened  and  sustained  by  the 
special  agency  of  our  heavenly  Father.  This  is  a  fact 
of  vast  importance  to  virtue,  to  religion,  and  to  our 
country,  and  ha^  been  too  generally  overlooked. 

It  is  impossible  to  account  for  the  deep  and  ardent 
spirit  of  liberty  and  patriotism  which  agitated  every 
American  bosom  at  that  period,  from  any  existing 
principles  or  elements,  either  on  this  side -the  Atlantic 
or  the  other. 

We  can  indeed  readily  find  the  immediate  cause  which 
set  fire  to  the  match  ;  but  we  cannot  find  the  origin  of 
those  principles  which  oppression  in  the  mother  country 
forced  into  action,  except  we  look  to  the  special  agency 
of  Providence. 

In  other  countries  oppressions  were  felt  more  severe 
and  intolerable  than  those  which  pressed  upon  our 
fathers,  and  occasional  patriots,  or  bands  of  patriots, 
appeared  and  struck  for  their  country  ;  but  the  spirit 
of  virtuous  freedom  and  well-regulated  patriotism  had 
not  gone  through  the  land  to  sustain  those  friends  of 


MEM  oil:. 


mankind.  In  this  respect  the  history  of  America  is 
without  a  parallel.  The  world  has  never  seen,  possibly 
may  never  see  again,  so  many  distinct  colonial  govern- 
ments lying  through  so  many  degrees,  from  Massachu- 
setts to  Georgia,  having  so  many  various  interests,  all 
awake  with  such  simultaneous  impulse  and  resolution 
to  resist  encroachments  upon  their  liberties. 

The  uniformity  and  energy  of  this  spirit  of  freedom 
I  could  not  even  shadow  forth,  much  less  illustrate. 
The  only  correct  picture  ever  drawn  or  that  can  be 
drawn  is  composed  of  the  unexampled  fortitude,  hero- 
ism, and  devotion  of  the  army  and  country. 

3.  The  unexampled  diversity  of  talent  which  was 
associated  in  the  direction  of  the  action  of  the  spirit  of 
liberty  at  that  period  must  also  be  referred  to  a  special 
providential  agenc}7,  which  prepared  in  anticipation  the 
materials  for  this  astonishing  revolution.  It  would  not 
require  an  American  mind  to  be  convinced,  nor  an 
American  tongue  to  declare,  that  the  sun  never  shone 
before  nor  since  on  such  an  association  of  patriotic 
talent. 

But  amid  all  these  elements  which  were  engaged  for 
the  civil  redemption  of  mankind,  and  which  had  made 
their  first  unconnected  and  unconcerte^  efforts,  there 
was  one  necessary  agent  wanting  still — a  master  spirit 
which  could  command  the  confidence  of  the  whole, 
concentrate  their  forces,  or  distribute  them  at  pleasure. 
All  felt  that  this  superior  spirit  was  wanting,  and  all 
looked  around  to  discover  him.  Without  management, 
without  the  machinery  of  modern  political  decisions, 
as  if  by  revelation  from  Heaven,  George  Washington 
stood  forth  that  spirit.  Nearly  six  thousand  years  had 
rolled  away,  and  no  such  man,  with  such  peculiar  destiny, 
had  appeared.  One  hundred,  years  have  passed  away 
since,  and  such  has  not  appeared  a  second  time. 

It  is  not  so  much  my  province  to-day  to  illustrate  his 
personal  excellencies  as  to  show  that  he  was  the 
peculiar  gift  of  Heaven  to  us;  the  instrument  by  which 
God  gave  us  our  national  liberty  and  blessings.  He  is 
not,  therefore,  so  much  an  occasion  of  boasting  or  ex- 
ultation as  of  gratitude  to  God,  who  raised  him  up  and 


74 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


preserved  him,  and  guided  him  through  all  that  event- 
ful era  of  our  national  parturition  and  infancy.  From 
this  view  of  his  character  and  destination  by  Heaven 
his  political  sentiments  and  example  should  beheld  but 
little  less,  if  indeed  less,  than  sacred  by  all  American 
citizens. 

That  he  was  the  peculiar  gift  of  God  to  us,  and 
his  special  servant,  his  history  and  actions  sufficiently 
show;  that  he  was  the  special  care  of  Heaven,  inso- 
much that  we  may  say,  in  the  language  of  a  great  man 
on  another  occasion,  he  vias  immortal  until  his  work 
was  done,  his  almost  miraculous  preservations  attest. 

4.  His  own  mind  seems  to  have  been  deeply  impressed 
with  the  same  view  of  this  subject  ;  so  much  so  that  all 
his  public  papers,  general  orders,  and  private  letters 
during  this  period  have  constant  and  frequent  reference 
to  a  special  superintending  providence  over  himself  and 
our  affairs. 

His  orders  on  the  day  after  the  surrender  of  York- 
town  closed  as  follows  :  "Divine  service  shall  be  per- 
formed to-morrow  in  the  different  brigades  and  divis- 
ions. The  commander-in-chief  recommends  that  all  the 
troops  that  are  not  upon  duty  do  assist  at  it  with  a 
serious  deportment  and  that  sensibility  of  heart  which 
the  recollection  of  the  surprising  and  particular  inter- 
position of  Providence  in  our  favor  claims." 

In  his  address  to  the  governors  of  the  different  States 
at  the  close  of  the  war  reference  to  a  superintending 
Providence  is  made  no  less  than  eight  times.  It  closes 
in  these  words:  "It  remains  then  to  be  my  final  and 
only  request  that  your  Excellency  will  communicate 
these  sentiments  to  your  Legislature  at  their  next  meet- 
ing, and  that  they  may  be  considered  as  the  legacy  of 
one  who  has  ardently  wished,  on  all  occasions,  to  be 
useful  to  his  country,  and  who,  even  in  the  shade  of 
retirement,  will  not  fail  to  implore  the  Divine  bene- 
diction upon  it. 

"  I  now  make  it  my  earnest  prayer  that  God  would 
have  you  and  the  State  over  which  you  preside  in  his 
holy  protection  ;  that  he  would  incline  the  hearts  of  the 
citizens  to  cultivate  a  spirit  of  subordination  and  obedi- 


MEMOIR. 


15 


ence  to  government  ;  to  entertain  a  brotherly  affection 
and  love  for  one  another  ;  for  their  fellow-citizens  of 
the  United  States  at  larg<>,  and  particularly  for  their 
brethren  who  have  served  in  the  field;  and,  finally, 
that  he  would  most  graciously  be  pleased  to  dispose  us 
all  to  do  justice,  to  love  mercy,  and  to  demean  our- 
selves with  that  charity,  humility,  and  pacific  temper 
of  mind  which  were  the  characteristics  of  the  divine 
Author  of  our  blessed  religion,  without  an  humble  imi- 
tation of  whose  example  in  these  things  we  can  never 
hope  to  be  a  happy  nation." 

In  his  address  which  accompanied  the  resignation  of 
his  command  of  the  armies  of  the  United  States,  which 
took  place  at  Annapolis,  there  is  one  paragraph  which 
cannot  be  read  by  an  American  without  the  deepest 
emotion.  It  is  this:  "I  consider  it  as  an  indispensable 
duty  to  close  this  last  solemn  act  of  my  official  life  by 
commending  the  interests  of  our  dearest  country  to  the 
protection  of  Almighty  God,  arid  those  who  liave  the 
superintendence  of  them  to  his  holy  keeping." 

Many  instances  of  his  devout  and  religious  feeling 
could  be  given;'  but  surely  these  are  sufficient  to  show 
all  American  statesmen  and  patriots  that  the  father  of 
our  country  always  carried  with  him  a  profound  respect 
for  the  Christian  religion,  and  considered  a  deep  and 
permanent  sense  of  religions  obligation  a  necessary 
principle  in  every  good  citizen's  character.  These 
quotations  also  will  answer  the  anxious  inquiries  of 
many  heaits  in  regard  to  Washington's  religious  senti- 
ments and  feelings,  and  will  place  the  recollection  of 
him  and  his  deeds,  if  not  in  a  higher,  at  least  in  a  holier 
shrine  in  the  memory  of  his  country. 

5.  As  was  to  have  been  expected,  the  fruits  of  his 
patriotism  and  that  of  his  compatriots  and  countrymen, 
under  the  special  governance  of  God,  have  been  indeed 
national  blessings. 

They  have  been  so  abundant  there  is  danger  that  our 
hearts  may  become  proud  and  forget  the  God  of  our 
fathers.  Yet  scarcely  are  the  fruits  begun  to  be  gath- 
ered. The  harvest  is  not  ours  only  ;  the  world  is  reap- 
ing, and  shall  reap  largely  from  it.    Our  success  under 


70 


JOHN  P.  DURE IX. 


God  has  given  a  powerful  impulse  to  the  spirit  of  free- 
dom and  sent  it  abroad  into  the  Old  World.  Nothing 
can  enchain  it  or  lay  it  to  rest  but  our  political  degrada- 
tion and  fall.    If  we  stand  the  world  is  free. 

6.  The  stability  of  our  civil  and  political  institutions 
is  desired  by  all  the  country.  The  all-absorbing  inquiry 
is,  How  can  it  be  insured?  A  glance  at  this  question 
will  close  our  discourse. 

It  is  neither  my  will  nor  my  province  to  allude  to  those 
political  measures  which  may  affect  our  stability  as  a 
nation.  No;  I  have  to  refer  to  a  higher  and  ulterior 
cause,  namely,  the  respect  we  pay  as  a  nation  to  the  rea- 
sonable service  and  worship  of  God. 

The  theocracy  and  history  of  the  Jews  as  developed 
in  the  Old  Testament  completely  establish  one  fact: 
that  a  nation  may  fill  up  the  measure  of  its  iniquity  as 
well  as  an  individual,  and  then  God  visits  it  with  na- 
tional calamities.  The  history  of  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  which  have  fallen  by  great  and  dreadful  evils 
is  a  luminous  commentary  on  this  fundamental  prin- 
ciple. 

The  national  morals,  therefore,  is  a  subject  of  vastly 
more  importance  than  particular  political  measures. 
.  Because  when  these  are  sound  no  measures  can  be  ab- 
solutely fatnl.  But  when  the  degradation  of  these 
passes  the  limits  of  the  forbearance  of  Jehovah,  no 
measures  can  save  us  from  national  ruin. 

7.  Finally,  I  hail  the  services  of  this  day  as  an  aus- 
picious omen,  to  which  the  rulers  of  our  land  will  do 
well  to  take  heed.  They  should  recollect,  also,  that  in 
this,  as  in  all  other  countries,  the  public  morals  take 
more  or  less  their  complexion  from  the  morals  of  the 
government  and  rulers  of  the  land.  The  subject  of  good 
morals,  which  can  be  based  on  a  proper  influence  of  re- 
ligion only,  should  be  ever  in  their  thoughts — should 
occupy  the  thoughts  of  every  good  citizen.  Let  it  en- 
gage our  earnest  and  constant  prayers;  so  shall  the 
blessings  of  Heaven  rest  upon  our  country.  The  light 
of  our  institutions  shall  illumine  the  political  world,  and 
our  national  happiness  become  an  irresistible  example 
to  awaken  the  patriotism  of  all  countries  and  bring  to 


MEMOIR. 


77 


the  nations  that  state  of  national  liberty  which  is  to 
precede  the  universal  establishment  of  the  kingdom  of 
peace. 

Thus  writes  Professor  Durbin  in  relation  to  this 
effort : 

"  Surely  a  whole  life-time  will  not  be  sufficient  for  me 
to  express  my  gratitude  to  God  for  the  special  and  unex- 
ampled aid  he  gave  me  on  this  occasion.  Undismayed, 
because  I  trusted  in  the  living  God  to  be  able  to  glo- 
rify him  on  this  great  occasion  ;  calm,  collected,  and 
earnest,  because  I  felt  full  conviction  of  the  greatness 
and  goodness  of  my  cause,  I  chose  the  subject  which 
wTould  give  me  occasion  to  present  these  two  great 
truths:  1.  A  special  superintending  Providence  pre- 
pared the  materials  of  our  national  existence  and  inde- 
pendence, and  made  George  Washington  a  special  gift 
to  us,  and  his  peculiar  servant  to  accomplish  this  great 
work.  2.  That  our  stability  as  a  nation  depends  ulti- 
mately on  our  national  morals,  which  are  intimately 
connected  with  the  reasonable  and  constant  service  of 
God. 

"  Never  did  I  see  a  more  profoundly  attentive  as- 
sembly. I  hope  the  effort  will  not  be  without  its 
fruits.    I  ask  the  blessing  of  Heaven  upon  it." 

Yielding  to  the  demand  of  this  memorable  occasion, 
we  have  from  Professor  Durbin's  own  pen  what  seem 
to  be  words  of  the  heart  upon  entering  upon  the  duty, 
his  forceful  expressions  on  the  delivery  of  the  discourse, 
his  evident  conviction  of  the  presence  of  a  higher  power 
that  gave  calmness  to  his  spirit  and  control  to  his 
thoughts  and  energies,  while  he  glows  with  gratitude 
for  the  manifest  results. 

As  we  consider  the  outline  of  this  discourse  we 
honor  him  in  the  choice  of  his  theme,  we  admire  the 
train  of  his  thought,  commend  the  logical  coherence  of 


78 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


the  parts,  and  mark  the  progress  of  his  subject,  and 
clearly  see  what  a  climax  the  orator  could  secure.  Who 
feels  not  the  force  of  his  appeal  to  the  mighty  men 
before  him  ? 

But  vain  is  any  attempt  to  reproduce  the  power  of  his 
culmination.  He  was  one  of  the  last  of  men  to  be  judged 
by  the  words  he  employed.  There  was  so  much  in  his 
utterances  besides  the  language  used  that  his  sentences 
were  inadequate  as  a  conveyance.  And  we  can  as 
readily  paint  the  vivid  lightning's  flash  when  it  dazes, 
or  show  the  rending  bolt  from  the  artillery  of  heaven 
when  it  sunders  the  gnarled  oak  of  a  century  or  shiv- 
ers the  massive  tower  that  has  stood  forages,  as  to  hope 
for  any  complete  exhibition  of  the  eloquence  of  Dur- 
bin  at  a  time  like  that,  when  patriotism  made  its  strong- 
est appeal — when  before  him  sat  the  mightiest  states- 
men of  the  republic  listening  to  a  discourse  that  they 
had  invited  on  the  man  "first  in  peace,  first  in  war,  and 
first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen."  Sense  of  duty 
woke  the  mind  and  set  the  speaker's  heart  on  fire, 
when  the  heart  threw  its  brightening  flame  on  the  in- 
tellect, and  love  of  God,  more  powerful  than  even  that 
of  country,  constrained  the  just  recognition  of  the 
Providence  that,  through  our  immortal  Washington, 
gave  us  our  territory  and  our  triumphs.  None  may 
wonder  that  when  he  was  at  his  intellectual  and  moral 
height  his  magnetic  eloquence  awed  and  transported 
that  vast  assembly.  At  the  close  of  the  discourse 
John  0.  Calhoun  approached  him,  shook  his  hand,  and 
said,  "  I  advise  you  never  to  preach  again,"  as  this,  he 
assumed,  could  never  be  reproduced.  The  same  state- 
ment is  made  by  Governor  Wickliffe,  of  Kentucky. 


MEMOIR. 


79 


CHAPTER  V. 

The  Persistent  Student  in  Baltimore  and 
Washington. 

IS  it  not  proof  of  the  greatness  and  the  essential  en- 
ergy of  a  human  mind  when  hy  no  progress  in 
knowledge  or  achievement  of  skill  it  can  he  long  sat- 
isfied, but  is  ever  reaching  out  for  something  beyond  ? 
Is  it  not  evidence  that  that  which  is  done  is  unequal  to 
the  mind  that  did  it,  as  "he  that  built  the  house  is 
greater  than  the  house."  God,  that  made  the  worlds, 
is  greater  than  the  worlds  he  marie.  Nor  can  we  con- 
ceive of  him  as  unemployed.  And  has  it  not  been 
a  fact,  through  all  the  ages,  that  however  long  the 
life  and  multiplied  and  brilliant  its  successes,  the  light 
of  all  great  minds  has  gone  out  in  death  while  yet 
there  remained  some  work  of  supposed  importance  to 
be  accomplished  ?  Thus  death  is  a  perpetual  nonplus. 
He  who  is  profoundest  in  wisdom, 

"  Dying,  sighs  to  see  how  little  he  has  learned." 

Why  is  this  ?  Why  these  undying  aspirations  ? 
Why  such  fruitfulness  in  devising  and  ingenuity  in 
employing  means  for  a  higher  end  ?  Shall  we  call  it 
mental  instinct  ?  Intellectual  intuition  ?  Is  it  that  the 
mind  can  find  no  proper  rest  but  in  labor?  Is  it  that 
man,  made  in  the  likeness  of  God,  retains  in  his  in- 
tellect so  much  of  the  original  impress  that  he  still 
feels  the  stirrings  of  that  which  is  only  less  than  the 
infinite  ? 


80 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN 


Does  the  Author  of  our  being  thus  speak  within  us  in 
relation  to  our  faculties,  as  he  does  without  us  in 
regard  to  moral  investments,  saying,  "  Occupy  till  I 
come?" 

As  in  our  graces,  so  in  all  our  endowments,  we  are  to 
"  go  on  to  perfection."  This  is  the  law  of  our  being, 
and  He  only  may  not  obey  it  who  is  a  law  to  himself  as 
the  eternally  perfect  One.  G.  W.  Hervey,  Esq.,  related 
to  the  writer  a  fact  of  which  he  avails  himself  as  illus- 
trative of  the  experience  of  one  distinguished  in  his  art. 
"  Soon  after  Thorwaldsen,  the  great  Danish  sculptor, 
had  finished  his  celebrated  colossal  statue  of  Christ  for 
a  church  in  Copenhagen,  a  friend  called  at  his  studio 
to  see  it.  During  the  visit  the  sculptor  remarked  :  'I 
think  my  faculties  are  failing.'  '  Why  do  you  so 
judge?'  asked  the  friend.  'Because,'  replied  Thor- 
waldsen, '  with  this  statue  I  am  satisfied.  I  can  find  no 
fault  with  it.  From  this  state  of  mind  I  infer  my 
ideal  of  perfection  is  decaying,  for  never  before  have  I 
been  able  to  satisfy  its  demands.' "  With  the  great 
artist  the  creation  is  not  equal  to  the  conception. 

The  achievement  that  relaxes  energy  by  the  satis- 
faction that  it  has  given  must  always  be  regarded  as  a 
misfortune  for  the  future  reputation.  It  prevents  prog- 
ress and  precludes  what  was  the  possible  ;  but  he 
who  studies  our  complex  nature  sees  that  even  the 
greatest  minds  are  liable  to  impulses  and  habits  that 
interfere  with  the  noblest  designs  and  throw  the  in- 
tellect off  its  guard.  There  are  susceptibilities  that 
war  with  each  other — as  Paul  found  in  his  moral  nature 
the  good  and  the  bad,  that  made  strife.  There  is  in 
him  who  has  grand  purposes  the  inert  as  well  as  the 
vital — passion  as  truly  as  reason.  Success  may  ener- 
vate or  energize.  Powers  from  without  exert  them- 
selves to  exalt  or  depress.     Adversity  may  dispirit, 


MEMOIR. 


81 


criticism  impair,  adulation  puff  up,  and  wind  may  take 
the  place  of  nerve  and  muscle.  There  is  no  "pressing 
toward  the  mark."  The  eye  is  taken  off.  The  ardor  is 
cooled.  Such  can  now  "sacrifice  unto  their  net  and 
burn  incense  unto  their  drag."  Apathy,  in  its  silent 
encroachments,  closes  the  keen  vision  of  the  intellect. 
Mental  obliquity  has  carried  the  man  from  the  straight 
line  of  duty  upon  which  he  entered,  and  when  the  di- 
version is  discovered  the  innovation  has  gone  so  far  as 
to  set  effort  for  recovery  at  defiance.  If  indolence  enter 
the  mind  it  is  a  foe  difficult  to  dispossess.  It  is  a  strong 
man  armed  with  logic  and  proneness  to  self-indulgence. 
Of  the  facts  so  presented,  the  ministry,  as  well  as  others, 
have  felt  the  influence.  Candor  makes  the  confession 
and  intelligence  deplores  the  results.  That  praise  or 
blame  should  quench  the  ardor  of  a  flaming  herald  of 
the  cross,  that  any  thing  should  suppress  the  vigor  of 
one  called  of  God  to  preach,  might  excite  amazement. 
But  history  is  vocal.  He  who  ceases  effort  at  advance- 
ment, at  accomplishing  more  in  mind  and  heart  and 
ministry,  either  from  reputation  gained  or  from  appre- 
hension that  success  is  not  within  reach,  makes  a  mis- 
take that  is  little  less  than  a  sin  against  his  nature  and 
his  calling.  He  immolates  his  greatest  self,  or  the  most 
of  himself,  in  his  undeveloped  powers,  upon  an  altar 
whose  sacrifices  God  always  spurns.  What  follows? 
Character  is  fixed.  Improvement  is  at  an  end.  Satis- 
faction in  what  he  has  done,  or  faithlessness  in  his  en- 
dowments, has  induced  rest ;  but  it  is  rest  on  the  edge 
of  an  anguish  that  future  results  will  awaken.  He  that 
does  not  advance  declines.  Were  it  only  a  rocket 
none  could  expect  more  than  that,  when  it  exploded  in 
mid-air,  by  a  law  of  gravitation  what  remained  would 
descend.  But  there  are  forces  and  fires  in  man  that 
remain  to  act  as  long  as  they  are  possessed.  He  is 
7 


82 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


kindled  as  a  light  to  shine  brighter  and  brighter  to  the 
perfect  day — that  is,  when  all  the  beams  of  the  intel- 
lect give  forth  their  effulgence. 

When  from  any  cause  one  concludes  the  acme  is 
reached,  whether  it  is  high  or  low,  we  look  in  vain  for 
close  application.  In  five,  ten,  fifteen,  twenty  years, 
are  comprehended  the  mental  labor  of  one  who  in  age 
reaches  fifty  or  seventy  years.  It  is  soon  remarked 
that  freshness  of  thought  is  gone  and  there  is  no  fruit 
of  present  study.  The  observant  say,  "  He  has  gone 
to  seed."  Has  it  not  been  seen  that  some  who  prom- 
ised most  have  never  risen  above  the  reputation  of  the 
first  five  years  of  their  ministry  ?  Why  is  this  ?  Is  it 
so  in  secular  professions?  Is  it  so  with  a  live  lawyer — 
with  the  worthy  physician  ?  Does  not  the  scientist 
grow?  Is  it  not  of  the  nature  of  the  mind  to  reveal 
its  powers  when  encouraged  ?  Is  not  advancement  a 
normal  result  of  exercise?  Shall  the  lines  of  Ovid 
apply  to  the  minister  whose  reputation  is  soon  made: 

"  Succeeding  years  thy  early  fame  destroy  ; 
Thou  who  began'st  a  man,  will  end  a  boy?" 

This  is  not  God's  order.  Wxe  grow  from  boys  to  men, 
not  from  men  to  boys.  It  is  as  if  the  sun  rose  with 
meridian  splendor  and  at  noon  gave  only  the  early 
dawn. 

Dr.  Samuel  Johnson  has  said  that  "the  advance  of  the 
human-  mind  toward  any  object  of  laudable  pursuit  may 
be  compared  to  the  progress  of  a  body  driven  by  a 
blow.  It  moves  for  a  time  with  great  velocity  and 
vigor,  but  the  force  of  the  first  impulse  is  perpetually 
decreasing,  and  though  it  should  encounter  no  obstacle 
capable  of  quelling  it  by  a  sudden  stop  the  resistance 
of  the  medium  through  which  it  passes  .  .  .  will  in  a 
short  time  .  .  .  wholly  overcome  it.    Some  hinderances 


MEMOIR. 


83 


will  be  found  in  every  road  of  life,  but  he  that  fixes  his 
eye  upon  any  thing  at  a  distance  necessarily  loses  sight 
of  all  that  tills  up  the  intermediate  space,  and  therefore 
sets  forward  with  alacrity  and  confidence,  nor  suspects 
a  thousand  obstacles  by  which  he  afterward  finds  his 
passage  embarrassed  or  obstructed." 

It  was  remarked  of  Hannibal  that  he  wanted  nothing 
to  the  completeness  of  his  martial  virtues,  but  "  that 
when  he  gained  a  victory  he  should  know  how  to  use  it." 
Nor  is- it  less  necessary  to  a  great  general  that  he  should 
be  superior  to  a  defeat.  Commanders  that  are  immor- 
tal have  snatched  victory  from  the  hand  that  had  con- 
quered. He  is  the  great  soldier  whose  courage  rises  and 
whose  skill  improves  from  the  adverse  issue,  and 
achieves,  by  greater  skill,  the  purpose  of  the  conflict. 
Thus,  too,  the  faithful  preacher  who  has  left  the  pul- 
pit for  the  day  with  a  sunken  spirit  has  returned  to 
witness  the  grandest  moral  conquest. 

If  early  success  in  learning  or  in  preaching  would  im- 
pair his  energy,  few  men  have  had  such  temptation  as 
we  have  seen  in  J.  P.  Durbin.  He  early  rose  to  favor  ; 
but  it  may  be  a  question  whether  he  was  ever  a  more 
persistent  student  or  a  more  assiduous  minister  than 
when  the  positions  that  he  filled  were  best  calculated  to 
satisfy  a  different  nature.  He  resembled  the  general 
who  would  deem  nothing  done  while  there  remained 
any  thing  undone. 

That  he  had  been  invited  by  the  pastor  and  trustees 
of  the  Methodist  church  in  Baltimore  to  spend  three 
months  with  them,  preaching  the  word,  was  one  of  the 
most  convincing  proofs  of  their  estimate  of  his  ability. 
In  no  city  of  this  land  might  Methodism  boast  a  more 
intelligent  membership  or  a  more  efficient  ministry. 
He  went  there,  not  as  an  evangelist  or  revivalist,  but  as 
an  edifying  and  eloquent  preacher  who  could  build  up 


84  JOHX  P.  DURBIX. 


the  Church  and  extend  its  influence.  Three  times  dur- 
ing the  week,  as  well  as  on  the  Sabbath,  he  delivered 
his  powerful  discourses.  The  numbers  who  crowded 
to  hear  the  word  were  immense,  and  the  Lord  helped 
him  mightily. 

But  the  biographer  who  should  overlook  the  use  that 
he  made  of  his  time  while  in  Baltimore  and  Washington 
would  fail  in  seizing  facts  essential  to  the  integrity  of  the 
narrative.  With  work  of  such  magnitude  and  responsi- 
bility as  that  which  engaged  him  in  Baltimore,  with 
services  in  which  the  mind  and  heart  took  so  deep  an 
interest,  with  successes  such  as  crowned  his  efforts,  with 
the  attentions  and  hospitalities  that  continually  forced 
themselves  upon  him  from  a  people  famed  for  their 
entertainment  of  preachers,  it  might  be  supposed  he 
would  be  perfectly  absorbed,  and  that  any  thing  out- 
side such  interests  and  engagements  could  not  be  al- 
lowed. But  his  record  shows  that  he  found  time  to 
increase  his  scientific  knowledge  and  to  improve  his 
mind.  Tims  he  writes:  "I  attended  lectures,  or  some 
of  them,  in  the  University  of  Maryland  medical  depart- 
ment, also  mineralogical  lectures  in  the  department  of 
science."  He  adds  :  "  I  must  here  record  my  grateful 
recognition  of  the  gentlemanly  professors  who  so  kindly 
proffered  me  their  tickets  gratuitously,  but  must  be 
more  particular  with  regard  to  Dr.  Cohen.  He  was  not 
only  so  kind  as  to  admit  me  to  his  lectures,  but  to  his 
collection  ^of  minerals  daily,  and  offered  me  his  aid  in 
familiar  and  personal  explanations.  I  can  never  forget 
his  friendly  and  gentlemanly  conduct  toward  me,  and  I 
felt  this  all  the  more  acutely  because  he  was  a  Jew — a 
child  of  Abraham  in  whom  I  have  always  felt  especial 
interest.  He  came  once  to  hear  me  preach  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  I  do  sincerely  hope  that  he  may  yet  find 
him  to  be  the  Hope  of  Israel." 


MEMOIR. 


85 


Elsewhere  Durbin  says  :  "  About  this  time  I  com- 
menced reading  lire's  Geology  a  second  time.  I  think 
him  a  man  of  great  research — self-taught.  His  lan- 
guage is  strong,  rather  imperious,  and  sometimes  severe." 

Professor  Durbin  was  no  sciolist.  The  superficial  did 
not  satisfy  him,  and  dogmatism  passed  for  no  more  than 
its  worth.  His  mind  delved,  grasped,  and  utilized.  Ashe 
had  opportunity,  he  sought  the  reason  of  things.  When 
his  own  mentul  penetration  and  breadth  were  unequal  to 
the  inquiry  he  bowed  to  a  superior  intelligence.  He 
could  not  brook  the  imperious  of  men,  or  think  of  being 
"  wise  above  what  is  written."  He  would  illustrate  the 
fact  that  mental  culture,  moral  growth,  and  spiritual 
usefulness  may  co-exist  and  co-operate  in  the  aggregated 
influences  of  him  who  pleads  for  God  and  souls. 

But  if  possible,  we  are  more  deeply  impressed  by 
the  tenacity  with  which,  while  in  Washington,  he  ad- 
hered to  his  habits  of  study  and  the  success  with  which 
he  prosecuted  his  purpose  to  increase  his  knowledge 
in  science  and  literature.  He  who  reads  his  convic- 
tions of  the  possibilities  of  usefulness  in  the  chaplaincy, 
and  observes  his  solicitude  to  accomplish  all  that  was  in 
his  power  for  the  spiritual  benefit  of  those  who  had 
chosen  him,  will  know  that  he  neglected  nothing  that 
would  be  profitable  to  them.  He  brought  beaten  oil 
that  would  afford  the  best  light  to  those  he  would  guide. 
No  time  was  too  long  that  this  required.  His  sermons 
before  the  great  men  of  the  nation  were  not  perfunctory 
deliverances.  They  were  of  vital  thought — were  living 
words — often  as  "  goads  and  as  nails  fastened."  They 
had  sentences  that  were  "  swords  piercing  to  the  divid- 
ing asunder  of  soul  and  spirit."  Sermons  they  were 
with  facts  and  force  which  the  most  rebellious  and  ob- 
durate might  not  readily  resist.  Of  this  an  illustration 
is  furnished  in  the  desire  of  the  member  from  Balti- 


80 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


more.  Cases  of  conscience  might  be  submitted  to  him  by 
men  in  public  life — cases  requiring  great  skill  and  much 
thought  for  their  adjustment.  He  who  keeps  in  mind  what 
there  is  in  the  national  metropolis  during  Congress  to  dis- 
tract and  dissipate  the  mind — the  demands  of  etiquette, 
the  calls  of  friends,  the  visits  of  persons  from  a  distance, 
the  courtesies  expected  from  him  by  ministers  of  his 
own  Church  and  of  other  Churches,  the  appeals  made  for 
services  in  various  places — these  required  the  devotion 
on  his  part  of  much  time,  and  often  awakened  deep 
sympathies  which  made  sad  inroads  on  his  nervous  sys- 
tem, and  demanded  rest.  Then  a  man  of  his  capacity 
and  taste  would  often  feel  a  deep  interest  in  attending 
Congress  to  hear  great  arguments  and  witness  the  effects. 
It  was,  as  we  have  seen,  the  days  of  Henry  Clay,  of  Dan- 
iel Webster,  of  John  C.  Calhoun.  Besides  these  greater 
lights  there  were  other  stars  of  acknowledged  brilliancy. 
He  would  naturally  desire  to  see  and  enjoy  their  beams. 
Of  the  care  with  which  he  heard  the  mightiest  of  them, 
and  the  candor  with  which  he  judged  of  mind,  of  char- 
acter, and  of  eloquence  we  may  form  some  idea  in  the 
expressions  he  gives  of  his  estimate  of  Clay  and  of  the 
result  of  his  call  on  Webster,  and  of  the  impression  that 
intercourse  and  hearing  produced.  He  teas  not  more 
really  a  student  of  subjects  than  of  me)). 

With  such  duties  as  we  have  named  to  engage  a  chap- 
lain, besides  many  of  which  we  have  no  knowledge,  we 
would  naturally  say  study  outside  his  chaplaincy  was  im- 
possible. Desultory  reading  must  satisfy  him.  We  would 
be  inclined  to  say  "the  thieves  of  time"  are  too  many, 
too  active  and  artful,  to  allow  more  than  this.  He  did 
not  permit  them  to  invade  the  precinct  of  conscience  and 
rob  it  of  its  dictates.  It  told  him  to  "  redeem  the  time." 
He  did  it.  He  that  had  learned  to  study  by  the  back- 
woodsman's fire,  that  secured  mental  serenity  in  the 


MEMOIR. 


87 


room  of  the  log-cabin  with  six  or  twelve  of  various  ages 
about  him,  with  as  much  difference  in  the  matter  of  dis- 
cipline as  there  was  in  age,  he  who  could  under  such  cir- 
cumstances reveal  his  intellectual  and  moral  manhood 
would  not  yield  to  the  diversions  and  difficulties  of  study 
in  the  city  of  Washington  during  a  Congressional  session. 
He  rose  early,  took  exercise,  attended  to  his  devotions, 
entered  upon  the  public  work  of  the  day  at  half  past 
eleven  o'clock,  went  to  the  duties  of  chaplain,  then  en- 
tered the  library  of  the  Capitol,  not  to  go  from  alcove 
to  alcove,  from  chapter  to  chapter,  not  from  book  to 
book  to  open  and  shut  it,  to  examine  the  table  of  con- 
tents, and  then  assume  knowledge  of  the  author.  But 
he  selected  his  book,  and  then,  if  necessary  for  his  pur- 
pose, read  it "  from  end  to  end,"  or  as  much  of  it  as  his 
reason  for  studying  it  induced.  He  was  there  as  the 
close,  consecutive  thinker,  making  progress  in  science, 
broadening  his  acquaintance  with  the  best  English  lit- 
erature in  the  lines  that  he  perused.  The  record  he 
left  speaks  for  the  man.  He  did  not,  according  to  the 
figure  of  Dr.  Johnson,  allow  the  "  blow  "  that  the  mind 
had  received  to  send  it  "  toward  its  object,"  to  spend 
its  force  till  the  end  for  which  it  was  given  was  reached. 
That  end  was  his  highest  improvement  and  greatest 
efficiency.  He  measured  the  distance,  considered  the 
force,  adopted  the  means,  reached  the  end.  In  Wash- 
ington he  was  the  chaplain  and  the  student.  He  secured 
honor  in  both  relations. 


88 


J0I1X  P.  DUE  BIX. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Editor   of  the    "  Christian   Advocate  and 
Journal." 

OX  the  26th  of  May,  1832,  Professor  Durbin  was 
elected  by  the  General  Conference  editor  of  the 
Christian  Advocate  and  Journal  and  ZiorCs  Herald^ 
YoutlCs  Instructor^  Child' 's  Magazine,  and  of  Tracts  and 
Sunday-school  Books.  This  was  a  remarkable  evidence 
of  the  confidence  reposed  in  his  literary  ability  and 
adaptation  to  the  place.  He  was  not  then,  nor  had  he 
ever  been,  a  member  of  the  General  Conference.  He 
was  but  thirty-two  years  old.  He  entered  upon  his  la- 
bors with  a  promptness  and  intellectual  vigor  that 
showed  his  deep  conviction  of  the  importance  of  the 
duties  that  his  place  imposed,  and  with  a  manifest  pur- 
pose to  exert  the  proper  influence  of  this  great  denomi- 
national oflice. 

July  27,  1832.  In  an  article  on  the  design  and 
progress  of  the  Chartered  Fund  he  urges  the  duty  of 
the  people  to  save  the  pastor  from  perplexing  care  and 
the  obligation  of  the  preacher  to  give  himself  wholly 
to  his  work.  He  is  to  "  give  himself  to  reading  that  his 
profiting  may  appear,"  as  says  the  apostle  ;  and  the 
Discipline  says  the  minister  should  give  the  morning  to 
reading,  at  least  five  hours  in  the  day.  If  all  preachers 
would  do  this  how  differently  would  their  performances 
appear  in  the  pulpit !  How  clear,  well  arranged,  and  re- 
freshing would  be  their  discourses,  and  consequently 
how  their  power  and  influence  would  be  elevated  and 


MEMOIR. 


89 


extended  in  the  community  for  good  !  Then  he  urges 
upon  the  people  the  importance  of  thu  fact  that  a  studi- 
ous man  must  have  a  study,  must  have  many  and  vari- 
ous books,  and  says,  "  few  have  the  means."  Then,  as 
through  all  his  life,  he  considered  the  duty  of  the  minis- 
ter to  seek  by  all  the*  means  in  his  power  the  culture  in 
mind,  as  well  as  grace  in  heart,  to  make  him  the  greatest 
power  among  his  people.  On  Sept.  6,  1833,  lie  writes 
upon  a  subject  and  expresses  a  judgment  that  is  pleas- 
ant to  recall — the  first  Commencement  of  Wesleyan  Uni- 
versity at  Middletown,  which  took  place  August  .28, 
1833.  He  says  :  "  We  were  struck  with  the  absence  of 
that  excess  of  pomp  and  splendor,  both  in  diction 
and  gesture,  of  the  speakers,  which  is  too  common  on 
such  occasions.  Most  of  the  sentiments  in  the  compo- 
sitions were  elevated  and  just,  and  many  of  the  para- 
graphs were  elegant  and  chaste.  Their  gesture  was 
sometimes  very  fine,  often  appropriate,  rarely  excessive. 
President  Fisk  presided  to  the  entire  satisfaction,  per- 
haps I  ought  to  say  to  the  admiration,  of  the  whole 
assembly,  and  Professor  Whedon's  inaugural  address 
was  very  good,  abounding  with  some  new  thoughts, 
many  new  combinations  of  thought,  and  excellent  reflec- 
tions and  inferences.  Finally,  we  are  assured  that  this 
first  Commencement  of  the  Wesleyan  University  is,  or 
ought  to  be,  a  new  era  in  its  progress  to  complete  .suc- 
cess." 

On  October  4,  1833,  he  records  another  fact  that 
goes  Avith  our  history.  This  is  the  first  visit  of  the 
Christian  Advocate  and  Journal  to  its  subscribers  from 
the  new  building  erected  in  Mulberry  Street,  between 
Broome  and  Spring  streets,  New  York,  for  the  accom- 
modation of  the  General  Book  Concern.  He  gives  its 
history  in  the  issue  of  October  4,  1833. 

December  6,  1833,  he  writes  of  the  morality  of  the 


90 


JOHX  P.  DUMB IX. 


theater,  and  says  in  his  editorial,  "  The  theater  repre- 
sents the  highway  to  destruction,  degradation,  and 
rain,  especially  to  youth." 

The  Sunday-school  of  the  Church  became  an  early 
anl  a  constant  care,  and  he  discussed  the  system  of  re- 
wards and  methods  of  instruction  with  a  clearness  and 
candor  that  showed  the  attention  he  had  given  to  the 
work.  He  made  weighty  suggestions  for  its  increase, 
intelligence,  and  efficiency.  Early  in  his  editorship  he 
projected  the  publication  of  the  Sunday-school  Library, 
and-  edited  many  of  its  earlier  volumes.  "This," 
says  Dr.  Longking,  "  was  a  favorite  enterprise  with 
him." 

He  gave  the  closest  attention  to  our  doctrines,  econ- 
omy, peculiarities,  and,  as  far  as  need  suggested,  to 
our  administration. 

The  deep  reverence  that  Dr.  Durbin  associated  with 
public  worship,  and  the  proprieties  to  be  observed  in  re- 
gard to  attendance,  show  his  exalted  moral  sense.  Nor 
are  his  suggestions  to  the  preacher  as  to  the  proper 
spirit  of  reproof  to  the  people  for  delay  and  irreverence 
of  less  value  to  him  who  is  striving  to  do  good,  but 
who  by  incaution  may  do  harm. 

He  says:  ''There  are  those  who  seem  to  think  that 
the  power  of  public  religious  services  to  do  good  was 
considered  too  generally  to  rest  almost  wholly  with  the 
preacher.  Congregations  calculate  and  prepare  but 
very  little,  it  is  to  be  feared,  to  enter  into  and  sustain  the 
spirit  and  forms  of  public  services.  Hence  but  few  are 
serious,  fewer  still  join  reverently,  devoutly,  and  uni- 
formly in  the  public  prayers,  and  many,  at  least  too 
many,  make  very  little  account  of  reaching  the  church 
in  time,  and  often  leave  it  as  soon  as  the  service  is 
closed.  Their  object  seems  to  be  simply  to  hear  the 
sermon.    They  do  not  appear  to  enter  themselves  into 


MEMOIR. 


91 


public  services  and  take  a  suitable  part  in  the  worship 
and  praise  of  God.  The  deficiency  can  be  remedied, 
measurably,  at  least,  by  the  prudent,  firm,  and  affection- 
ate conduct  of  the  ministry.  If  they  will  on  all  suitable 
occasions  insist  in  proper  manner,  in  a  spirit  of  kindness 
and  respect,  not  of  scolding  or  satire,  upon  the  people's 
being  all  quietly  seated  in  the  church  before  the  time 
of  commencing  the  services,  and  in  the  same  affection- 
ate manner  upon  their  remaining  until  dismissed,  these 
important  points  can  be  carried  effectually." 

In  editorials  of  the  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal 
of  September  13,  1833,  and  October  25,  1833,  we  have 
a  calm,  clear,  and  vigorous  setting  forth  of  the  doctrine 
of  the  "  Witness  of  the  Spirit "  to  our  conversion,  in 
reply  to  an  article  in  the  Evangelist  on  "  Premature 
Hopes,"  in  which  the  writer  says,  "  The  settlement  of 
our  controversy  with  God  is  a  business  which  respects 
our  whole  past  life."  Dr.  Durbin  replies,  "Surely,  it  is 
unspeakably  important  that  our  hope  be  built  upon  a 
rock,  and  that  we  have  an  assurance  of  an  interest  in 
his  favor ;  our  holiness  as  well  as  happiness  is  so  con- 
nected with  it  that  neither  can  be  stable  or  flourish 
without  it."  He  sees  the  mind  confused  from  the  sub- 
stitution of  the  word  "  hope  "  for  "assurance."  He  says, 
"  The  inspired  writers  never  employ  the  word  hope  for 
what  is  matter  of  experience  and  present  possession.  .  .  . 
We  see  or  know  the  things  that  are  freely  given  to  us 
of  God.  Here  substitution  of  the  wrord  '  hope '  for  the 
word  'assurance'  in  relation  to  Christian  experience 
is  not  a  matter  of  small  moment ;  it  has  the  effect  to 
lower  the  standard  of  Christian  experience  ;  to  bring 
into  the  Church  a  host  of  merely  awakened  sinners 
and  to  weaken  the  springs  and  motives  of  holy  obed- 
ience. It  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  fruits  of  the 
spirit,  love,  joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  good- 


92 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


ness,  faith,  can  subsist  in  the  soul  without  the  'Witness 
of  the  Spirit.'  " 

In  an  editorial  on  "  The  Building  up  of  the  Church" 
he  remarks  : 

"  Next  to  the  conversion  of  souls  the  leading  on  of  the 
Church  to  the  perfection  of  holiness  should  be  the  object 
of  the  ministers  of  Christ.  The  honor  of  Christ,  the 
prosperity  of  the  Church,  and  the  happiness  of  indi- 
viduals all  require  them  to  pursue  this  course. 

"And  here  we  may  inquire  why  so  little  has  been 
done  in  reference  to  this  object?  It  cannot  be  that 
the  necessity  is  not  apparent.  Look  which  way  you 
will,  lukewarmness  and  the  love  of  the  world  are  pre- 
vailing evils  among  Christians.  From  the  evil  roots 
which  remain  in  them  every  evil  practice  may  spring 
up,  to  the  wounding  of  the  cause  of  Christ,  the  grief  of 
the  few  truly  pious,  and  the  exultation  of  enemies.  All 
of  which  evils  would  be  prevented  by  the  perfection  of 
holiness. 

"  Why,  then,  we  ask,  has  so  little  been  done  to  perfect 
the  saints?  To  this  we  may  answer,  that  little  com- 
paratively has  been  done  to  set  the  subject  fully  before 
the  Christian.  The  evils  growing  out  of  this  neglect  are 
frequently  felt,  and  almost  as  frequently  palliated  by 
saying,  '  That  is  human  nature;'  'We  do  not  expect 
perfection  here,'  or  something  to  the  same  effect. 

"  Sometimes,  indeed,  the  duty  of  perfecting  holiness  is 
asserted,  but  to  little  effect,  while  Christians  are  given 
to  understand  that  they  cannot  be  perfectly  holy  in 
this  life  (we  speak  only  of  moral  holiness);  nay,  that 
they  can  never  rise  above  being  carnal  *  sold  under 
sin  while  they  remain  in  the  body. 

"Now  we  cannot  think  that  the  minister  of  the  Gospel 
does  his  duty  while  he  asserts  the  duty  of  holiness  but 
offers  no  encouragement  to  expect  it.    Holinessn-an  only 


MEMOIR. 


93 


be  obtained  by  faith.  If,  therefore,  we  repress  expec- 
tation, we  repress  faith,  or  rather  cut  it  up  root  and 
branch,  and  induce  a  state  of  lukewarmness  as  the  nat- 
ural result  of  our  erroneous  instruction. 

"To  such  teachers  we  would  put  the  following  ques- 
tions: Is  not  God  infinitely  well  pleased  that  his 
rational  creatures  should  possess  perfect  moral  holiness? 
If  this  be  his  will  is  he  not  able  to  effect  it?  Has  he 
not  made  provision  in  the  Gospel  for  this  very  thing? 
Is  not  the  blood  of  Christ  efficient  to  cleanse  from  all 
sin  ?  And  is  not  the  Holy  Spirit  able  perfectly  to  re- 
new us  in  the  spirit  and  temper  of  our  minds  ?  Would 
it  not  be  for  the  glory  of  God  thus  to  renew  and  save 
us  ?  Indeed,  we  want  but  two  points  yielded  (neither 
of  which  can  be  denied)  to  enable  us  to  infer  this,  the 
possibility  of  holiness,  with  the  utmost  certainty; 
namely,  that  it  is  his  will  that  we  should  be  practically 
and  perfectly  holy,  and  that  he  has  made  provision  for 
this  in  the  Gospel.  But  our  present  object  is  not  so  much 
to  prove  the  assertion  as  to  ascertain  why  those  who 
believe  it  make  so  little  use  of  it.  One  branch,  at  least, 
of  the  Christian  Church  has  been  highly  famed  for  the 
last  half  century  in  having  the  doctrine  of  holiness, 
both  in  precept  and  in  promises  relating  to  it,  clearly 
set  before  them.  The  great  and  good  men  whom  God  , 
has  raised  up  among  them  have  clearly  explained  and 
powerfully  proved  the  doctrine  of  Christian  perfection 
or  complete  moral  holiness.  They  have  not  only  shown 
this  to  be  the  doctrine  of  the  Bible,  but  they  have  shown 
also  that  the  thing  is  attainable.  Many  have  believed 
the  divine  testimony  and  entered  into  the  enjoyment  of 
this,  the  greatest  of  all  blessings.  A  considerable  number 
at  the  present  day  can  testify  '  truly  that  they  have  fel- 
lowship with  the  Father  and  with  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,' 
and  that  '  the  blood  of  Christ  cleanseth  from  all  sin.' 


94 


JOHX  P.  DURBIX. 


"But  it  is  a  serious  question  whether  the  number  of 
these  bear  a  fair  proportion  to  the  instances  of  conver- 
sion among  us  at  the  present  day — that  is,  whether 
these  are  increasing  in  the  same  ratio  as  conversions 
are.    In  truth  we  must  say  they  are  not.  .  .  . 

"The  standard  of  Christian  holiness  is  not  to  be 
taken  from  the  creeds  and  writings  of  men,  but  from 
the  word  of  God.  That  commands  us  to  love  the  Lord 
our  God  with  all  the  heart,  soul,  mind  and  strength, 
and  our  neighbor  as  ourselves.  Did  wTe  fulfill  the  former 
of  these  commands  we  should  devote  ourselves,  our 
whole  selves,  our  life  and  health,  time  and  substance, 
to  the  service  of  God;  not  in  profession  merely,  but  in 
deed  and  and  in  truth.  .  .  . 

"Did  we  fulfill  the  latter  there  would  be  no  war,  no 
oppression,  no  defaming  or  slandering  one  another,  no 
strife  of  tongues  or  angry  disputations,  nor  any  of  those 
passions  which  embroil  society.  .  .  . 

"The  views  which  the  Scriptures  give  us  of  the  per- 
fection of  holiness  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  it  is  a 
distinct  thing  from  what  is  commonly  understood  by 
regeneration  ;  distinct,  not  in  nature,  but  in  degree  and 
in  its  completeness.  This  being  the  case,  all  who  ob- 
tain regeneration  should  be  taught  to  seek  that  high 
moral  state  of  evangelical  righteousness  which  the 
Scriptures  describe  as  the  perfection  of  holiness.  And 
if  they  seek  it  with  all  their  heart  they  shall  obtain  it. 
For,  'if  we  confess  our  sins,  he  is  faithful  and  just  to 
forgive  us  our  sins,  and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  unright- 
eousness.' 

"  But  how  can  this  succeed  without  the  aid  of  the 
ministers?  These  must  show  the  'household  of  faith' 
what  is  in  this  respect  the  hope  of  their  calling,  what 
the  length  and  breadth  of  the  commandment,  what  is 
implied  in  the  provisions  of  the  Gospel,  and  what  the 


MEMOIR. 


95 


character  of  the  covenant  of  promise.  Let  a  conviction 
of  remaining  depths  of  depravity  in  the  nature  be 
deeply  fixed  in  their  consciences,  and  let  an  earnest  de- 
sire after  a  full  conformity  to  the  will  of  .God  be  pro- 
duced within  them.  This  will  enable  the  minister  to 
point  out  the  course  and  to  *  lead  them  like  a  flock.'  He 
must  be  as  attentive  to  this  branch  of  his  work  as  to  that 
which  goes  before  it;  and  never  till  this  is  the  case  will 
this  work  revive  with  power  and  appear  in  all  its  glory. 

"  Here  is  the  great  responsibility  of  the  ministers  of 
Christ;  and  yet  here  they  most  frequently  fail,  not,  in- 
deed, in  respect  to  preaching  this  doctrine  occasionally, 
but  in  following  it  up  in  private  as  well  as  in  public,  in 
introducing  it  into  prayer-meetings,  class-meetings,  and 
love-feasts.  And  here  let  me  mention  one  thing  more 
which  deserves  the  most  serious  attention  of  all  minis- 
ters, and  that  is  the  institution  of  meetings  expressly 
for  this  objoct.  Till  this  is  done  little  will  be  done  to- 
ward filling  the  earth  with  righteousness  and  peace. 
While  it  is  impossible  for  a  number  of  Christians,  how- 
ever small,  to  meet  together  for  this  object  without 
being  benefited,  on  the  other  hand,  if  no  meetings  are 
instituted,  this  work,  when  it  occasionally  revives,  will 
be  greatly  limited  and  decline.  Brethren,  let  us  think 
on  these  things." 

As  an  exhibition  of  his  desire  to  advance  our  minis- 
try in  learning  and  pulpit  power  we  have  an  editorial 
of  July  18,  1834,  giving  his  views  on  "An  Educated 
Ministry,"  and  approving  a  "  Theological  Seminary." 
And  this  at  a  time  when  even  Bishop  Hedding  could 
go  no  further  than  recommend  a  "  Biblical  Institute." 
This  was  a  long  step,  and  at  first  a  staggering  one  ; 
others  soon  followed  of  greater  steadiness. 

Dr.  Durbin  says  :  "  It  is  hoped  the  reader  will  not 
be  alarmed  at  the  words  which  stand  at  the  head  of  the 


no 


JOHN  P.  DURB1X. 


article.  They  are  intended  simply  to  open  a  very  grave 
and  weighty  question  for  the  consideration  of  the 
Church.  It  is  not  intended  to  decide  the  question  in 
its  details,  but  to  present  it  for  calm  and  prayerful  ex- 
amination. This  is  done  the  more  cheerfully,  and  in 
some  degree  in  the  discharge  of  our  duty,  because  our 
correspondence,  conversations,  and  observations  made 
exclusively  clearly  develop  the  interesting  fact  that  the 
question  of  an  educated  ministry  among  us  is  occupy- 
ing the  thoughts,  eliciting  the  attention  of  many  of  the 
wisest,  best,  and  most  experienced  both  among  the 
preachers  and  the  people.  ...  In  order  to  consider 
this  question  fairly  it  is  necessary  to  divest  ourselves 
of  our  prejudices  against  theological  seminaries  as  we 
have  been  accustomed  to  see  and  understand  them. 
There  was  a  time  when  these  seminaries  were  chiefly 
employed  in  educating  young  men  for  the  ministry 
merely  as  a  profession,  without  proper  regard  to  their 
morals  and  evangelical  piety.  The  profession  was  too 
much  a  matter  of  calculation  for  subsistence,  as  the  law 
or  medicine.  But,  in  our  opinion,  most  of  these  insti- 
tutions have  rapidly  approximated  the  true  and  tenable 
genius  of  an  educated  ministry,  the  grounds  which  we 
ought  to  occupy  if,  upon  calm  reflection  throughout  the 
Church  and  free  exchange  of  opinions  privately  and 
publicly,  it  should  be  deemed  advisable  to  act  in  the 
case.    The  grounds  are  these: 

"  1.  Let  none  be  educated  in  view  of  the  ministry  but 
such  as  are  called  of  God  to  this  work  and  approved  by 
the  proper  authorities. 

"  2.  Let  the  education  be  solid  and  useful,  directly  in 
view  of  the  work  they  are  called  to  do. 

"  3.  Let  its  extent  and  time  consumed  depend  very 
much  upon  the  demand  for  laborers  in  the  work  and  the 
progress  they  have  made." 


MEMOIR.  97 

Among  the  advantages  he  gives  are  these: 

"1.  It  would  advance  and  establish  the  young  minis- 
ter's personal  piety  and  deep  rational  devotion. 

"  2.  It  would  impart  a  moral  and  intellectual  power 
which  cannot  be  derived  in  any  other  way.  This  is  the 
general  rule  ;  of  course  there  will  be  exceptions. 

"  8.  Such  an  education  wrould  enable  the  ministry  to 
perform  its  pastoral  duties  much  more  successfully,  to 
fill  our  churches  and  retain  our  families — they  go  else- 
where." 

While  editor,  Durbin's  literary  taste,  mental  fur- 
niture, Christian  spirit,  denominational  loyalty,  just 
perceptions,  and  sound  judgment  made  the  paper  a 
means  of  intellectual  and  moral  culture  to  the  Church, 
and  a  power  in  building  up  Christ's  kingdom  in  the 
world. 

The  Advocate  was  like  eyes  to  the  Church  to  over- 
look her  territory,  to  discover  her  opportunities,  to  re- 
veal her  resources,  to  awaken  her  energy,  to  encourage 
her  hope,  to  broaden  her  sense  of  obligation,  and  to  in- 
spire the  purest  ambition  for  the  grandest  future. 

Never  were  the  doctrines  and  institutions  of  Method- 
ism more  sedulously  guarded  or  vital  piety  more  con- 
sistently enforced.  Dr.  Durbin  resigned  this  place  to 
fill  the  presidency  of  Dickinson  College;  duty  seemed 
to  demand  such  action. 
8 


98 


JOIIX  P.  DURBIX. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


Presidency  of  Dickinson  College. 


HE  war  of  the  Revolution  had  hardly  closed  and 


men  in  the  nation,  looking  to  the  future  of  the  country, 
saw  we  had  need  of  all  the  advantages  that  education 
could  give  to  enable  us  to  meet  the  high  demands  of 
the  Providence  that  had  strangely  set  us  free. 

The  Pilgrim  Fathers,  with  their  religion,  had  sought 
to  establish  education  on  the  best  basis.  Harvard  was 
organized  and  did  its  work.  Yale's  influence  was  com- 
manding. William  and  Mary  gave  advantages  to  the 
youth ;  and  Princeton,  known  as  the  "  Log  College," 
had  entered  the  field  for  needed  service.  But  now 
that  independence  was  established  several  gentlemen 
of  high  character  determined  to  have  a  college  west 
of  the  Susquehanna  River.  Among  these  men  were 
the  Hon.  John  Dickinson,  whose  name  the  college  bears, 
and  who  was  then  Governor  of  Pennsylvania;  Dr.  Ben- 
jamin Rush,  William  Brigham,  and  others  noted  for 
their  public  spirit  and  benevolence.  A  charter  having 
been  obtained  from  the  State  the  first  meeting  of  the 
Board  of  Trustees  was  held  on  the  15th  of  September, 
1783.  "  The  attention  of  the  board  was  probably  directed 
to  Dr.  Nisbet,  as  a  suitable  person  to  lay  the  founda- 
tion of  the  college,  by  Dr.  Rush,  who  is  believed  to 
have  made  his  acquaintance  during  his  residence  in 
Scotland."  Dr.  Nisbet  was  accordingly  elected  presi- 
dent of  Dickinson  College  on  the  8th  of  April,  1784. 


established  before  great 


MEMOIR. 


09 


The  prospects  of  the  college  were  gloomy  enough,  ex- 
cept in  the  glowing  imagination  of  its  projectors.  A 
report  was  made  to  the  board  at  the  very  time  of  Dr. 
Nisbet's  election  which  stated  the  total  amount  of  the 
funds  of  the  college,  including  money,  stocks,  and 
lands,  to  be  £2,839,  12s.  and  6d.,  Pennsylvania  cur- 
rency, the  productive  portion  of  which  yielded  only 
£130  per  annum.  The  trustees  Telied  for  increase  of 
the  funds  upon  the  liberality  of  the  public  and  of  the 
State  Legislature,  and  yet  they  offered  Dr.  Nisbet  a 
salary  of  £250  sterling,  a  house  rent  free,  and  the  pay- 
ment of  his  expenses  from  Scotland  to  Carlisle.  Dr. 
Rush  wrote  to  him  repeatedly  in  pressing  terms,  mak- 
ing the  most  unqualified  promises,  indulging  the  most 
sanguine  prophecies  of  success,  and  pledging  the  honor 
and  estates  of  the  trustees  for  the  payment  of  the  obli- 
gations. .  .  .  Dr.  Nisbet  finally  yielded.  On  the  23d 
of  April,  1785,  he  sailed  from  Greenock  with  his  family 
and  landed  in  Philadelphia  on  the  9th  of  June  follow- 
ing. He  reached  Carlisle  on  the  4th  of  July  and  was 
received  with  highest  marks  of  respect.  On  the  next 
day  he  took  the  oath  of  office  as  president  of  Dickinson 
College,  and  commenced  his  duties  at  once.  ...  "It 
was  a  period  of  unvaried  labors,  constant  anxiety,  and 
mortifying  disappointments  on  his  part."  .  .  .  Promises 
failed,  assurances  of  success  did  not  avail.  The  country 
languished  for  years  after  the  close  of  the  exhausting 
and  protracted  war.  The  derangement  of  the  commerce 
and  currency,  and  the  prevailing  scarcity,  presented  diffi- 
culties for  which  the  trustees  were  not  responsible.  They 
who  were  disposed  to  be  liberal  toward  the  college 
found  themselves  so  embarrassed  that  they  could  neither 
give  money  to  its  aid  nor  educate  their  sons  in  its  halls. 
Dr.  Nisbet  was  grieved,  depressed,  and  humiliated  in 
seeing  the  failure  of  the  trustees  and  the  people  to  sup- 


100 


JOHN  P.  DUUB1X. 


port  the  institution  as  had  been  promised.  He  resigned 
the  presidency.  It  was  not  from  apathy.  It  was  that 
they  had  been  incautious  in  the  steps  they  had  taken, 
and  had  raised  false  hopes  in  one  who  did  not  so  well 
know  the  condition  of  the  country  as  they  who  invited 
him  were  supposed  to  know  it. 

Dr.  Nisbet  was  a  man  of  exalted  reputation.  He 
had  graduated  in  the  ministry  at  Edinburgh,  had  re- 
mained six  years  in  Divinity  Hall,  and  had  filled  po- 
sitions of  high  responsibility  as  a  preacher.  In  1767 
Dr.  Witherspoon  applied  to  him  to  permit  his  name  to 
be  presented  among  the  candidates  for  the  presidency 
of  Princeton  College.  He  was  regarded  as  among  the 
most  learned  men  in  Scotland.  He  was  a  hard  student, 
and  was  called  the  "  walking  library,"  and  his  memory 
bordered  on  the  prodigious.  The  late  Dr.  Samuel 
Miller,  of  Princeton,  says,  "  He  was  one  of  the  most 
learned  men  of  his  day."  After  Dr.  Nisbet,  in  1804, 
Dr.  Robert  Davidson  was  elected.  Then  followed,  in 
the  order  named,  Dr.  Jeremiah  Atwater,  Dr.  John 
McKnight,  Dr.  John  M.  Mason,  Dr.  William  Neil,  and 
Dr.  Samuel  B.  How. 

President  after  president  came  to  the  chair,  and  every 
one  to  witness  the  failure  of  his  hopes.  The  institu- 
tion did  grand  work  for  those  who  entered  it.  It  grad- 
uated some  of  the  first  men  of  the  country.  There 
James  Buchanan,  late  President  of  the  United  States, 
graduated,  and  it  was  the  Alma  Mater  of  Chief  Justice 
Taney. 

In  December,  1821,  Dickinson,  that  had  entirely  sus- 
pended for. several  years,  received  as  its  president  that 
princely  preacher,  Dr.  John  M.  Mason.  As  a  scholar, 
teacher,  and  divine  he  had  great  influence  among  the 
first  men  of  the  nation.  He  had  been  the  intimate 
friend  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  and  delivered  a  famous 


MEMOIR. 


address  at  his  funeral.  On  going  to  Carlisle,  Dr.  Mason 
took  with  him  as  students  some  of  the  most  promising 
young  men  of  the  country,  among  whom  were  the  late 
Dr.  George  W.  Bethune,  Drs.  John  Knox,  William  C. 
Brovvnell,  J.  M.  Mathews,  and  Dr.  Thomas  De  Witt. 

He  had  an  able  faculty,  and  the  college  enjoyed  the 
labors  of  that  brilliant  genius  and  eloquent  preacher, 
Dr.  Alexander  McClelland.  Despite  the  erudition  and 
eloquence  of  Dr.  Mason,  despite  his  reputation  as  a 
great  preacher  and  the  encouraging  patronage  that  his 
presidency  secured,  despite  the  cherished  hopes,  distin- 
guished talent,  and  earnest  effort  of  the  faculty,  the 
institution  failed,  and  in  1824  Dr.  Mason  resigned  his 
place.  The  trustees  elected  as  his  successor  Dr.  William 
Neil,  of  Philadelphia.  Dr.  Mason  congratulated  them 
in  procuring  "  a  gentleman  of  such  standing."  For 
eight  years  Dr.  Neil  filled  his  position  with  scholarship 
and  personal  dignity;  but,  failing  in  his  purposes  and 
plans,  he  resigned  his  place. 

Under  such  circumstances  and  with  such  a  history  of 
the  college,  Dickinson  was  offered  to  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  Bishop  Emory  was  residing  within 
the  bounds  of  the  Baltimore  Conference,  and  he,  with 
the  Rev.  Alfred  Griffith,  took  such  steps  as  resulted  in 
the  acceptance  of  the  offer.  To  the  memory  of  Bishop 
Emory  the  Church  find  the  ministry  owe  a  debt  of 
gratitude  that  time  may  not  repay  ;  himself  a  very  schol- 
arly man  in  Methodism,  it  was  his  effort  to  raise  the 
standard  of  ministerial  qualifications,  and  afford  to  the 
Church  the  advantages  of  college  education.  On  reach- 
ing the  episcopacy,  at  the  early  age  of  forty-four,  he 
turned  his  attention  to  preparing  a  Course  of  Study  for 
Candidates  to  the  Ministry.  He  soon  after  issued  a  small 
volume,  entitled  One  Hundred  Questions  on  the  Bible, 
a  work  which  necessitated  research,  and  burned  its  way 


102 


JOHN  P.  DUBB/X. 


into  the  memory  of  many  a  man,  and  of  which  the 
writer  has  a  vivid  recollection.  In  the  future  of  Dick- 
inson and  of  Dr.  Durbin  we  see  his  hand  and  feel  his 
power.  In  the  brief  space  of  four  years  in  the  episco- 
pate he  left  his  intellectual  impress,  never  to  be  effaced. 

In  the  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal  of  November 
15,  1833,  Dr.  Durbin  wTrote  of  Dickinson  College, 
"  This  is  the  oldest  college  in  the  State  except  the  uni- 
versity at  Philadelphia,  and  has  received  liberal  appro- 
priations from  the  legislature  at  different  times.  From 
various  causes  the  board  found  it  necessary  to  close 
the  institution  and  the  faculty  was  dissolved.  The 
building  is  an  extensive  and  durable  stone  edifice,  with 
ten  acres  of  ground,  situated  in  one  of  the  healthiest  and 
most  beautiful  towns  of  Pennsylvania,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  three  thousand  persons,  the  morals,  manners,  and 
intelligence  of  whom  are  very  favorable  to  a  literary 
institution.  The  Baltimore  and  Philadelphia  Confer- 
ences propose  to  endow  the  college  with  permanent 
lands  for  its  benefit."  Dr.  Durbin  and  Dr.  Holdich 
were  appointed  to  prepare  an  address  in  behalf  of 
Dickinson  College.  They  saw  "  no  insurmountable 
difficulty  to  its  prosperity  "  in  the  fact  that  Middletown 
University  was  commenced;  "no  reason  why  a  college 
should  not  flourish  at  Carlisle.*' 

Again  he  writes  of  Dickinson  College  in  the  Chris- 
tian Advocate  and  Journal,  April  4,  1834,  "In  one 
hour  in  the  Baltimore  Conference  there  was  subscribed 
112,000.  This  is  an  indication  of  vast  importance.  It 
is  characteristic  of  the  true  spirit  and  enterprise  of 
Methodist  preachers  in  any  cause  which  they  think  con- 
tributes to  the  glory  of  God  and  the  conversion  of  the 
world.  There  is  scarcely  such  a  body  on  the  earth  as 
a  Methodist  Conference.  Dr.  Durbin  was  present, 
Bishop  Andrew  presided,  and  Bishop  Emory  was  with 


MEMOIR. 


him.  The  entire  subscription  in  favor  of  Dickinson 
College  in  both  Conferences  amounted  to  about  $30,000. 
About  as  much  more  is  wanted  in  order  to  meet  the 
resolution  on  which  the  college  is  to  be  opened." 

The  following  is  an  interesting  and  eloquent  record 
of  the  strong  men  in  Methodism  associated  with  Dick- 
inson College  when  it  came  under  our  control.  The 
Board  of  Trustees  were: 

Hon.  John  McLean,  Judge  Supreme  Court,  United  States. 
Rev.  John  Emoiy,  D.I).,  Bishop  Methodist  Episcopal  Church. 

Ex  officio. 


Rev.  S.  G.  Roszel,  Baltimore. 

Rev.  Joseph  Lybrand,  Wilmington. 

Rev.  Alfred  Griffith,  Baltimore. 

Rev.  Job  Guest,  Carlisle. 

Dr.  Theodore  Myers,  Carlisle. 

Dr.  Samuel  Baker,  M.D.,  Professor 
Materia  Med.  University,  Md. 

John  Phillips,  Carlisle. 

Dr.  Ira  Day,  Median  icsburg. 

Dr.  Thomas  Sewall.  Professor  Co- 
lumbian College,  Washington. 

Sam'l  Harvey,  Esq..  Germantown. 

Henry  Antez,  Esq.,  Harrisburg. 

Dr.  J.  M.  Keagy,  Philadelphia. 

John  Davies,  Esq.,  Harrisburg. 

Dr.  Matthew  Anderson,  Philadel- 
phia. 

Richard  Benson,  Esq.,  Philadel- 
phia. 

Henry  Hicks,  Esq.,  Wilmington. 
George  W.  Noble,  Esq.,  Attorney- 
at-Law,  Baltimore. 


Dr.  S.  H.  Higgins,  Wilmington. 

Charles  A.  Wartield,  Williams- 
port,  Md. 

Dr.  James  Roberts,  Harrisburg. 

James  Dunlop,  Esq.,  Chambers- 
burg. 

Benjamin  Matthias,  Esq.,  Phila- 
delphia. 

Charles  McClure,  Esq.,  Attorney, 
Carlisle. 

Samuel  Parker,  A.M.,  Esq.,  Phila- 
delphia. 

William  M.  Biddle,  Esq.,  Attorney, 
Carlisle. 

Thomas  A.  Budd,  Esq.,  Attorney, 
Philadelphia. 

Dr.  Thomas  E.  Bond,  Baltimore, 
and  J.  B.  Lougacre,  Esq.,  Phila- 
delphia. 

Rev.  J.  P.  Durbin,  A.M. 

Hon.  John  Read,  Law  Professor, 
Carlisle. 


Under  this  organization  of  the  college  Dr.  John  P. 
Durbin  was,  by  a  "  unanimous  and  enthusiastic  vote," 
elected  president. 

On  July  18,  1834,  Dr.  Durbin  resigned  the  editorship 
of  the  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal  to  fill  the  presi- 


104 


JOHX  P.  DURBIX. 


dency  of  the  college,  being  profoundly  impressed  with 
the  need  of  the  institution  to  Methodism.  It  is  just  to 
history  to  remark,  that  as  editor  his  salary  was  only 
81,200,  and  Dr.  Durbin  said  he  was  unable  to  live  on  it. 
When  complaint  is  made  of  the  high  salaries  of  some 
of  our  most  distinguished  preachers  and  officers  in  the 
Church,  it  were  well  to  ask  if  any  in  our  ministry  lose 
more  financially  than  do  those  whose  talents  elsewhere 
wTould  secure  them  double  the  support  they  receive. 

If  it  is  instructive  and  salutary  to  watch  the  progress 
of  mind  in  its  struggle  upward  to  the  goal,  it  should 
not  yield  less  interest  and  pleasure  to  witness  its 
achievements  when  it  has  attained  the  place  for  the 
full  exhibition  of  its  powers  and  .skill :  to  know  that 
past  efforts  are  rewarded  by  the  greatness  of  present 
results. 

Dr.  Durbin  was  now  in  a  most  responsible,  not  to  say 
critical,  position.  He  was  but  thirty-four  years  old. 
Dickinson  was  among  the  earliest  of  our  colleges.  With 
us  they  had  not  been  popular.  This  institution,  with 
ablest  men,  had  failed  under  the  great  Presbyterian 
body.  Dr.  Durbin,  though  a  graduate,  was  a  Methodist 
preacher  ;  his  training  had  been  in  the  itinerancy,  and 
for  such  a  man  under  the  circumstances  to  expect 
success  shows  no  little  faith  and  determination.  It  re- 
quired  a  great  heart  and  uncommon  capabilities  to  en- 
gage with  wisdom  in  this  work.  But  he  at  once  showed 
himself  master  of  the  situation.  He  was  remarkable  for 
his  knowledge  of  men,  as  is  shown  by  the  character  of 
those  whom  he  secured  for  the  various  chairs  of  the  in- 
stitution. 

At  the  beginning  of  his  presidency  Robert  Emory 
was  elected  professor  of  ancient  languages.  He  had 
graduated  at  Columbia  College,  New  York,  with  the 
first  honors,  and  perhaps  no  man  of  his  age  in  our  his- 


MEMO I 'U. 


105 


tory  was  of  greater  weight  and  worth  than  this  honored 
son  of  Bishop  Emory.  He  was  elected  president  when 
Dr.  Durbin  resigned.  Rev.  John  McClintock,  who  was 
a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  was 
elected  professor  of  mathematics,  and  it  was  said  his 
education  fitted  him  for  any  chair  in  the  college.  Will- 
iam EL  Allen,  graduate  of  Bowdoin,  who  was  subse- 
quently and  for  many  years  the  distinguished  president 
of  Girard  College,  was  called  to  the  chair  of  chemistry 
and  natural  history.  Merritt  Caldwell,  also  a  graduate 
of  Bowdoin,  was  professor  of  metaphysics  and  political 
economy.  He  was  also  a  most  successful  teacher  of 
elocution.  Who  will  wonder  that  with  such  a  faculty 
Dickinson  College  at  once  obtained  influence  and  sup- 
port? The  sagacity  of  the  president  was  as  manifest 
in  the  conduct  of  the  institution  as  in  the  selection  of 
men.  By  his  prudence  and  suavity  he  maintained  disci- 
pline, as  he  imparted  to  the  students  a  self-respect  that 
was  a  glory  to  Dickinson.  Sympathy  on  the  part  of  the 
patronizing  Conferences  induced  many  of  the  ministers 
to  subscribe  for  its  pecuniary  needs,  and  in  every  way 
the  president  sought  the  improvement  of  its  finances. 

Notwithstanding  the  prejudice  existing  in  many  minds 
at  that  day  against  colleges  Dr.  Durbin  obtained  an  an- 
nual collection  throughout  the  patronizing  Conferences, 
and  secured  the  appointment  of  Charles  Pitman  and  Ed- 
mund S.  Janes  as  agents  for  the  Philadelphia,  and  Stephen 
G.  Roszel  and  John  A.  Collins  for  the  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence, to  travel  through  the  bounds  of  the  Conferences 
and  obtain  subscriptions  to  aid  the  rejuvenated  institu- 
tion. Ministers  of  the  best  talent  and  in  great  demand 
by  the  strongest  churches  were  secured  to  help  the  col- 
lege. To  do  this  required  no  little  influence  on  the  part 
of  the  president.  He  appealed  to  the  legislature  of 
Pennsylvania  and  received  from  year  to  year  an  appro- 


106 


JOIJX  P.  DURBIX. 


priation  of  $1,000.  Members  of  Conference  sometimes 
said  the  president  of  Dickinson  did  not  know  their 
trials.  Once  he  replied,  "  If  the  brother  thinks  I  know 
nothing  of  the  difficulties  of  his  life  I  shall  be  pleased 
to  exchange  notes  with  him  on  ministerial  privations." 
To  Dickinson  College  Dr.  Durbin  gave  eleven  of  what 
he  called  the  best  years  of  his  life;  and  while  through 
its  entire  history  it  has  done  noble  work  for  the  Church 
its  friends  fail  not  to  recall  the  days  of  his  connection 
with  it  as  a  palmy  period. 

Some  of  the  first  scholars  and  most  eloquent  ministers 
of  our  Church  came  from  Dickinson  during  Durbin's  ad- 
ministration. Not  to  name  laymen  that  have  made  their 
impress  at  the  bar  or  on  the  bench,  in  the  American  Con- 
gress, in  different  professions  and  positions,  the  Church 
can  boast  in  the  pulpit  the  names  of  Rev.  T.  V.  Moore; 
of  Bishop  Bowman;  of  the  late  Bishop  Cummins,  of  the 
Reformed  Episcopal  Church ;  of  Dr.  Charles  F.  Deems, 
and  Dr.  George  R.  Crooks.  After  eight  years  of  con- 
finement to  college  duties  Dr.  Durbin  deemed  it  desira- 
ble to  have  relief  from  his  cares,  and  also  leisure  to 
increase  the  stores  of  his  knowledge  by  travel. 

While  president  of  Dickinson  College  Dr.  Durbin 
had  the  great  sorrow  of  burying  his  wife,  the  mother  of 
all  his  children.  She  was  a  lady  of  great  modesty  and 
merit. 

To  those  who  have  long  felt  so  deep  an  interest  in 
Dickinson  College,  and  who  made  contributions  to  its 
meager  means  in  its  earliest  struggles,  it  affords  no 
common  delight  to  know  that  within  the  last  few  years, 
besides  raising  the  standard  of  education  and  sending 
forth  some  of  the  largest  classes  in  its  history,  it  has 
made  so  great  an  advance  in  its  material  means  and  in- 
creased its  facilities  to  the  high  purpose  of  its  origin. 
Within  the  last  sixteen  years,  under  the  presidency  of 


MEMOIR.  lo7 

Rev.  J.  A.  McCauley,  D.D.,  there  have  been  added 
three  new  buildings: 

Memorial  Library  Hall,  Scientific  Building  and  Gymna- 
sium  $120,550  75 

Repair  of  old  buildings   17,871  81 

$138,422  56 

Increase  of  Permanent  Endowment  from  1872-1888 

about   103,000  00 

Total  additions   $241,422  56 


The  Church  may  justly  felicitate  herself  in  the  fact 
that  Dickinson  College,  though  starting  with  means  so 
limited,  received  such  an  impulse  and  inspiration  as 
well  as  character  under  the  young  Durbin  that  for 
more  than  fifty-four  years  it  has  been  accomplishing 
its  appropriate  work.  That  our  first  colleges  should 
have  been  so  distinguished  by  the  men  placed  over 
them  might  well  awaken  wonder.  We  have  noted  the 
remarkable  faculty  of  Augusta  in  the  South.  In  the 
North,  Wesleyan  University  had  Wilbur  Fisk  as  first 
president,  who  deserved,  as  he  received,  the  highest 
honors.  To  Dickinson  was  given  John  P.  Durbin,  who 
filled  the  presidency  with  an  efficiency  and  success  that 
might  be  a  marvel.  When  Fisk  died  came  Stephen 
Olin  for  the  Wesleyan,  and  when  Durbin  resigned 
Robert  Emory  took  his  place.  If  in  our  first  efforts 
at  higher  education  it  seemed  as  though  Providence 
frowned  on  our  purpose,  allowing  our  property  once 
and  again  to  be  destroyed;  now  once  and  again,  and 
again  at  a  later  period,  it  looked  as  if  Providence  wa^ 
full  of  benignity  in  giving  us  the  men  that  were  equal 
to  their  high  responsibility. 

The  following  are  the  presidents  of  Dickinson  since 
the  college  came  into  the  hands  of  the  Methodist  Epis- 
copal Church : 


108 


JOHN  P.  D  U  Ft  BIX. 


Dr.  John  P.  Durbin  in  1833;  Dr.  Robert  Emory  in 
1845;  Dr.  Jesse  T.  Peck  in  1848;  Dr.  Charles  Collins 
in  1852  ;  Dr.  Heraan  M.  Johnson  in  1860;  Dr.  Robert 
L.  Dashiell  in  1868;  Dr.  James  A.  McCauley  in  1872. 
Dr.  McCauley  served  a  longer  term  than  any  of  his 
predecessors. 


MEMOIR. 


109 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
Travels  in  Europe  and  the  East. 

AFTER  filling  the  presidency  of  Dickinson  College  for 
about  eight  years  Dr.  Durbin  indulged  the  wish 
that  he  had  long  cherished,  to  go  abroad.  The  period 
of  his  service  in  Dickinson  had  been  marked  by  care 
and  labor  that  no  one  not  familiar  with  the  facts  can 
adequately  judge.  His  attractions  as  a  preacher  caused 
him  to  be  sought  on  great  occasions  and  in  every 
direction.  The  sermons  that  he  then  preached  were  a 
heavy  tax  upon  his  nervous  system;  while  to  increase  the 
financial  resources  of  the  college,  to  extend  its  patron- 
age, and  to  secure  the  most  exalted  reputation  to  the 
institution  were  his  perpetual  ambition  and  effort.  His 
vacations  could  hardly  be  called  seasons  of  rest.  Then, 
as  at  other  times,  he  was  devising  means  and  executing 
plans  to  accomplish  the  high  purpose  of  the  Church  in 
this,  one  of  her  first  colleges.  No  power  that  he  pos- 
sessed, no  time  that  he  could  command,  was  withheld 
from  this  service. 

For  years  he  suffered  from  his  throat  in  such  a  way 
as  to  demand  daily  attention.  A  desire  of  relaxation 
was  both  natural  and  proper.  But,  apart  from  the 
need  of  rest  and  recuperation,  he  had  a  wish  to  incrense 
his  knowledge  through  the  observation  and  intercourse 
of  foreign  travel.  As  a  tourist  he  went  not  merely 
for  pleasure  and  health,  but  for  intellectual  profit. 
And  in  this,  as  in  other  matters  in  which  he  engaged, 
he  applied  himself  to  the  end  he  sought.    He  was  as 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


really  the  student  abroad  as  at  home  ;  the  difference 
was  in  the  direction  of  his  faculties.  The  customs, 
civilizations,  governments,  systems  of  education  and  re- 
ligion, the  fine  arts,  sciences,  the  spirit,  the  manners  of 
the  people  where  he  traveled,  all  entered  into  his  calcu- 
lations when  he  went  abroad.  Alexander  was  accus- 
tomed to  say,  "  He  had  discovered  more  with  his  eves 
than  other  kings  comprehended  in  their  thoughts." 
Thus  he  spoke  of  his  travels.  Lord  Bacon  remarks  : 
"  When  a  traveler  returneth  home,  let  him  not  leave 
the  countries  where  he  has  traveled  altogether  behind 
him." 

In  1844  Dr.  Durbin  published  his  Observations  in 
Europe,  principally  in  France  and  Great  Britain  (2  vols. 
12 mo).  Shortly  after  this  he  gave  to  the  press  his  Ob- 
servations in  t/te  East,  in  Ef/j/pt,  Palestine,  Syria,  and 
Asia  Minor  (2  vols.,  12 mo).  The  Harper  Brothers 
were  his  publishers. 

No  fitter  title  could  have  been  chosen  for  these 
works.  They  were  emphatically  and  pre-eminently 
"  observations  "  on  what  he  saw,  on  what  he  studied, 
and  on  what  impressed  him.  They  are  the  "  observa- 
tions "  of  a  man  of  fine  culture  and  in  mature  life;  of 
one  who  in  every  place  was  accustomed  to  observe. 
They  are  also  the  "  observations  "  of  a  man  of  calmness, 
candor,  and  sagacity;  of  a  tourist  who  takes  nothing  on 
trust  where  his  opportunity  and  capability  enable  him 
to  judge  for  himself;  one  who  will  dare  to  differ  from 
any  supposed  authority  when  his  own  investigation 
leads  to  an  adverse  conclusion. 

Such  are  the  works  of  travels  that  an  inquiring  mind 
should  seek.  It  will  be  found  that,  while  in  these  vol- 
umes much  is  brought  before  the  reader  that  others 
have  presented,  it  is  sometimes  in  aspects  and  with 
reasonings  that  give  him  a  claim  to  special  attention. 


MEMOIR. 


Ill 


In  these  works  there  is  an  excellence  of  style,  a  fasci- 
nation of  narration,  a  philosophic  breadth  and  vigor 
of  statement  that  commend  them  to  the  inquiring  and 
intelligent  reader. 

On  leaving  the  country  Dr.  Durbin  writes:  "At  two 
o'clock  on  the  afternoon  of  April  27,  1842,  we  cast  off 
the  cables  of  our  steam-tug  in  the  Narrows  and  spread 
all  our  canvas  to  a  stiff  breeze.  In  a  few  hours  our 
noble  ship,  Ville  de  Lyon,  was  plunging  her  bows  into 
the  waves  looking  directly  toward  beautiful  France. 
The  city  of  New  York  had  vanished  in  the  distance; 
the  Highlands  of  Navesink  disappeared  with  the  set- 
ting sun  ;  and  at  this  last  glimpse  of  my  country  I 
awoke  to  the  assurance  that  I  was  about  to  accomplish 
my  ardent  and  long  cherished  desire  of  visiting  the 
Old  World,  whose  history  had  inspired  my  young 
heart  with  a  restless  longing  to  behold  the  scenes  of 
so  many  great  achievements. 

"We  sat  down  to  our  first  dinner  at  sea  full  of  life 
and  gayety.  I  need  not  tell  the  reader  what  a  change 
came  over  the  spirit  of  our  company  when  our  gallant 
vessel  began  to  mount  the  waves  and  descend  from  their 
crests  into  depths  from  which  the  inexperienced  pas- 
senger felt  an  involuntary  apprehension  she  could  never 
rise  again.  Laughing  eyes  became  mournful  enough, 
and  jolly  faces  were  lengthened  into  dolorous  visages 
as  one  by  one  my  companions  sought  the  sides  of  the 
ship  and  looked  wistfully  into  the  sea.  Inexorable 
Neptune  demanded  his  accustomed  tribute.  One  of 
my  young  friends  obeyed  at  one  gangway,  while  Pro- 
fessor L         answered  at  the  other.    My  time  came 

late,  but  alas  !  when  once  arrived  it  never  departed. 
I  shall  never  make  a  sailor.  There  was  a  little  coterie 
of  Frenchmen  and  women  aboard  whose  mercurial  tem- 
perament was  proof  against  seasickness,  and  expended 


112 


JOHX  P.  LURB1X. 


itself  in  laughing,  dancing,  and  every  form  of  merry- 
making.   I  envied  them  most  heartily." 

After  this  vivid  and  facetious  sketch  of  some  of  his 
experiences  in  the  voyage  he  lands  at  Havre  on  the  19th 
of  May.  AVe  soon  find  him  in  the  magnificent  cathe- 
dral at  Rouen,  and  have  his  graphic  description  of  its 
interior.  "Let  us  enter  the  gloomy  Gothic  pile.  Our 
sensations  are  indescribable.  It  is  not  admiration  ;  it  is 
not  the  religious  sentiment,  but  a  strange  astonishment, 
not  unmingled  with  awe,  yet  certainly  not  akin  to  rev- 
erence. The  long  ranges  of  lofty  pillars  ;  the  countless 
sharp  Gothic  arches  ;  the  numerous  chapels  on  either 
side,  adorned  with  pictures  and  statuary,  frequently 
with  candles  burning  before  the  image  of  the  Virgin 
with  the  infant  Jesus  in  her  arms,  all  seen  in  a  flood  of 
light  poured  into  the  church  through  more  than  a  hun- 
dred windows,  whose  glass  is  stained  with  every  shade 
of  color,  from  fiery  red  to  the  soft  tints  fading  into 
white,  until  nave,  and  choir,  and  aisles  seem  magically 
illuminated;  the  silence  that  reigns  in  the  vast  space, 
broken  only  by  the  occasional  footfall  of  a  priest,  in 
his  long  black  robe,  flitting  along  the  nave,  or  entering 
one  of  the  numerous  confessionals  followed  by  a  peni- 
tent ;  with  here  and  there  the  form  of  an  aged  and  de- 
crepit female  kneeling  in  superstitious  reverence  before 
some  favorite  image  ;  all  taken  together  overpower  the 
eye  and  the  mind  of  the  Protestant  traveler  unaccus- 
tomed to  such  scenes  with  strange  impressions  and  op- 
pressive feelings ;  and  he  retires  from  his  first  visit 
confused  and  astonished." 

But  the  aesthetic  tnste  that  here  shows  itself  makes  not 
so  strong  an  appeal  to  our  admiration  as  the  tenderness 
of  his  spirit  when  respecting  the  request  of  a  bereaved 
heart.  He  says:  "When  I  was  leaving  home  a  wid- 
owed friend  had  requested  me  to  find  out  the  grave  of 


MEMOIR. 


113 


her  youthful  husband,  who  died  a  stranger  in  Paris, 
and  bring  her  back  a  rose,  a  flower,  or  a  spire  of  grass 
from  his  resting-place.  I  promised  her  to  do  so;  and 
looked  for  the  English  quarter  of  the  cemetery,  nat- 
urally supposing  that  I  should  find  the  tomb  of  the 
American  stranger  among  those  of  his  fatherland. 
There  were  many  noble  English  names,  but  none  of 
historical  celebrity,  and  we  passed  them  rapidly  by, 
until  at  last  one  of  my  companions  cast  his  eye  upon 
a  group  of  neat,  plain  tombs,  and  saw  'Baltimore,' 
'  Philadelphia,'  1  New  Jersey.'  Here  I  soon  found  the 
tomb  for  which  I  had  been  in  search,  by  the  inscrip- 
tion, *  W         W.  M  ,  counselor  and  advocate  at  the 

bar  of  New  Jersey  in  the  United  States  of  America, 
died  in  Paris,  July  24,  1825,  aged  twenty-nine  years.' 
A  vigorous  maple  is  springing  at  the  head  of  the  tomb 
and  will  completely  overshadow  it.  I  plucked  some 
tender  leaves  and  spires  of  grass  (no  rose  or  flower  was 
there)  to  convey  to  his  widow  and  orphans  at  home; 
wreathed  round  the  urn  with  my  own  hands  a  rich 
green  garland  from  the  boughs  which  shaded  it  ;  went 
on  my  way  with  sadness  and  returned  from  this  city  of 
the  dead  to  the  busy  abodes  of  the  living  within  the 
walls  of  Paris."  What  could  better  show  the  man  of 
sensibility  ?  lie  offers  remarks  also  on  the  battle  of 
Waterloo  so  minute,  comprehensive  and  forcible  as  to 
suggest  a  war  critic.  He  noticed  the  facts  of  Method- 
ism in  England  and  Ireland;  and  his  descriptions  show 
that  he  felt  the  disabilities  under  which  it  then  labored. 

Geneva  was  to  him  full  of  interest  and  suggestion. 
He  dwells  upon  its  history  in  a  "religious  point  of 
view,"  and  deplores  the  moral  decline  that  it  had  long 
shown,  but  extols  the  work  of  Mr.  Robert  Haldane 
about  the  year  1816,  when  he  invited  a  number  of 

students  of  the  theological  seminary  to  meet  him  at  his 
9  to  3 


114 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


rooms  in  the  hotel.  .  .  .  "About  a  dozen  of  the  young 
men  were  awakened,  enlightened,  and  turned  to  God 
with  all  their  hearts.  Among  these  were  Dr.  Malan, 
Felix-Neff,  Mr.  Henry  Pyt,  and  Dr.  Merle  d'Aubigne. 
This  was  the  commencement  of  the  second  Reformation 
in  Geneva."  He  says  :  "  It  bears  some  resemblance  to 
the  origin  of  Methodism  in  the  Church  of  England,  and 
has  the  same  object  in  view — that  is,  a  revival  of  piety 
and  sound  doctrine  in  the  State  Church  of  Geneva,  among 
the  Protestants  of  France,  Belgium,  and  Holland,  sind  a 
more  general  diffusion  of  vital  Protestant  Christianity. 
Like  Mr.  Wesley  and  his  associates,  these  first  children 
of  the  second  Reformation  became  children  of  Provi- 
dence, and  followed  its  openings.  Part  of  them  formed 
themselves  into  an  evangelical  society  to  labor  for  the 
advancement  of  the  kingdom  of  God, 

"  1.  By  teaching  theology,  for  which  purpose  they 
have  instituted  a  theological  seminary  at  Montauban,  in 
France.  2.  By  popular  exposition  of  Scripture,  for 
which  ministers,  but  particularly  traveling  evangelists, 
are  employed.  3.  For  the  distribution  of  the  Script- 
ures and  of  tracts  and  religious  books,  either  by  gift, 
loan,  or  sale.    This  society  was  instituted  in  1831." 

Dr.  Durbin  was  not  less  an  American  for  his  tour  in 
England.  Nor  does  he  fail  to  charge  upon  Alison's 
History  of  Europe  the  injustice  done  us  in  his  chapter 
on  our  country.  But  he  sees  in  the  true  sentiment  of 
the  intelligent  in  both  Europe  and  our  own  land  that 
which  justly  binds  us  closely  together. 

Dr.  Durbin  as  a  tourist  in  the  East  had  much  to  en- 
gage his  talent  for  observation  and  to  gratify  his  taste 
as  a  Bible  student.  He  went  as  a  Christian  minister, 
and  devotion  mingled  with  inquiry.  An  intelligent 
tourist  in  Palestine  on  his  return  to  this  country  said  : 
"The  Holy  Land  was  to  him  like  a  fifth  gospel."  Not 


MEMOIR. 


115 


less  did  it  impart  added  power  to  Dr.  Durbin.  There 
were  "sermons  in  stones,  and  good  in  every  thing." 

We  may  give  a  short  description  of  his  approach  to 
Alexandria':  "On  the  morning  of  the  5th  of  January, 
as  the  sun  struggled  up  through  the  clouds  which  pressed 
down  heavily  on  the  sea,  the  low  coast  of  Egypt  showed 
its  sand  swells  to  the  east  of  the  Pharos,  or  lighthouse 
of  Alexandria,  and  in  the  course  of  an  hour  the  fort 
and  indented  sand  coast  became  visible  to  the  West. 
The  sea  was  exceedingly  high,  and  the  pilot-boat  had 
much  difficulty  in  getting  to  windward  so  as  to  give  us 
the  direction  of  the  narrow  channel  between  the  shore 
and  the  breakers  which  extend  westward  from  the  light- 
house. But  having  once  got  our  bearings  our  gallant 
steamer  moved  into  the  deep,  safe  harbor,  and  took  her 
station  amid  the  fleet  of  merchantmen  and  Egyptian 
ships  of  war." 

We  see  him  at  the  pyramids.  "  But  what  a  sight  is 
that  from  the  top  of  Cheops  !  The  world  has  nothing 
like  it.  To  the  east  is  the  Arabian  desert,  boundless 
and  desolate  like  a  sea  ;  while  westward  stretches  that 
of  Libya,  without  a  green  spot,  far  away  to  the  horizon's 
verge ;  in  the  south  appears  the  valley  of  the  Nile,  like 
a  thread  of  green  earth  lying  on  an  ocean  of  sand,  and 
the  pyramids  of  Abukir,  Sakkara,  and  Dashur  tower- 
ing up  in  succession  to  the  skies.  Turning  northward 
your  eye  rests  upon  the  widespread  Delta  in  the  dis- 
tance, and  nearer,  in  ihe  north-east,  upon  the  lone  obe- 
lisk of  Heliopolis.  Immediately  before  you  rise  the 
precipitous  heights  of  Mount  Mokkatam,  crowned  with 
the  citadel  of  Cairo,  under  which  lies  the  ancient  city 
enveloped  in  a  thin  vapor  which  just  suffices  to  hide 
the  deformities  of  the  place,  while  a  thousand  domes 
and  minarets  of  graceful  proportions,  their  gilded  cres- 
cents glittering  in  the  sunbeams,  rise  up  to  complete 


116 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


the  vision  of  beauty.  I  turned  from  gazing  on  it  to 
look  upon  the  rocky  plain  immediately  around  the  pyr- 
amid. There,  deeply  buried  in  the  rock  now  covered 
with  sand  and  rubbish,  lie  the  dead  of  four  thousand 
years  ago.  It  is,  indeed,  a  vast  necropolis.  It  seemed 
as  though  I  were  among  the  earliest  born  of  men.  From 
the  plains  before  me  had  gone  forth  the  elements  of 
science,  art,  and  wisdom,  to  Greece,  to  Europe,  to 
America.  I  felt  as  a  child,  born  after  unnumbered  gen- 
erations, returned  to  the  home  of  his  ancestors,  and  be- 
hold !  it  was  all  desolate." 

Not  less  impressive  is  his  language  concerning  Sinai. 
"  It  was  three  miles  from  our  position  on  Jebel  Musa 
to  the  summit  of  Sufsafeh  (Sinai  on  the  map)  which 
overlooks  the  plain  Er-Rahah.  It  took  us  three  hours, 
with  great  fatigue  and  some  danger,  to  reach  it.  Xo 
one  who  has  not  seen  them  can  conceive  the  ruggedness 
of  these  vast  piles  of  granite  rocks,  rent  into  chasms, 
rounded  into  smooth  summits,  or  splintered  into  count- 
less peaks,  all  in  the  wildest  confusion  as  they  appear  to 
the  eye  of  an  observer  from  any  of  the  heights.  But 
when  we  did  arrive  at  the  summit  of  Es  Sufsafeh  and 
cast  our  eves  over  the  wide  plain,  we  were  more  than 
repaid  for  all  our  toil.  One  glance  was  enough.  We 
were  satisfied  that  here,  and  here  only,  could  the  won- 
drous displays  of  Sinai  have  been  visible  to  the  assem- 
bled host  of  Israel  ;  that  here  the  Lord  spoke  with 
Moses;  that  here  was  the  mount  that  trembled  and 
smoked  in  presence  of  its  manifested  Creator!  We 
gazed  for  some  time  in  silence,  and  when  we  spoke  it 
was  with  a  reverence  that  even  the  most  thoughtless  of 
our  company  could  not  shake  off.  I  read  on  the  very 
spot,  with  what  feelings  I  need  not  say,  the  passage  in 
Exodus  which  relates  the  wonders  of  which  this  mount- 
ain was  the  theater.    We  felt  its  truth,  and  could  al- 


MEMOIR. 


117 


most  see  the  lightnings  and  hear  the  thunders,  and  the 
'  trumpet  waxing  loud.' 

"  I  had  stood  upon  the  Alps  in  the  middle  of  July  and 
looked  abroad  upon  their  snowy  empire.  I  had  stood 
upon  the  Apennines  and  gazed  upon  the  plains  of  beau- 
tiful Italy.  I  had  stood  upon  the  Albanian  Mount  and 
beheld  the  scene  of  the  JEneid  from  the  Circean  prom- 
ontory, over  the  Campagna  to  the  Eternal  City  and  the 
mountains  of  Tivoli.  I  had  sat  down  upon  the  Pyra- 
mids of  Egypt,  and  cast  my  eyes  over  the  sacred  city 
of  Heliopolis,  the  land  of  Goshen,  the  fields  of  Jewish 
bondage,  and  the  ancient  Memphis,  where  Moses  and 
Aaron,  on  the  part  of  God  and  his  people,  contended 
with  Pharaoh  and  his  servants,  the  death  of  whose 
'  first-born  of  man  and  beast  in  one  night '  filled  the  land 
with  wailing ;  but  I  had  never  set  my  feet  on  any  spot 
from  whence  was  visible  so  much  stern,  gloomy  grand- 
eur, heightened  by  the  silence  and  solitude  that  reign 
around,  but  infinitely  more  by  the  awful  and  sacred 
associations  of  the  first  great  revelation  in  form  from 
God  to  man.  I  felt  oppressed  with  the  spirit  that 
seemed  to  inhabit  the  holy  place.  I  shall  never  sit 
down  upon  the  summit  of  Sinai  again,  and  look  upon 
the  silent  and  empty  plains  at  its  feet  ;  but  I  went  down 
from  that  mount  a  better  man,  determined  so  to  live  as  to 
escape  the  terrible  thunders  at  the  last  day,  which  once 
reverberated  through  these  mountains,  but  have  long 
since  given  way  to  the  gospel  of  peace.  I  could  scarcely 
tear  myself  away  from  the  hallowed  summit,  and  wished 
that  I  too  could  linger  here  forty  days  in  converse  with 
the  Lord." 

His  remarks  on  the  "  Reputed  Sepulcher "  of  the 
Lord  are  of  high  interest.  He  says:  "To  visit  this  spot 
had  been  one  of  the  earliest  dreams  of  my  youth.  The 
impression  which  a  perusal  of  Chateaubriand  at  that  early 


118 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


period  made  upon  my  mind  followed  me  through  suc- 
cessive years.  A  subsequent  reading  of  the  journals  of 
less  ardent  and  less  credulous  travelers  should  perhaps 
have  corrected  these  impressions,  but  they  did  not ;  my 
judgment  was  convinced  for  the  time  being,  but  the 
earlier  visions  of  the  imagination  always  triumphed  over 
the  convictions  of  reason.  It  remained  for  the  painful 
revelations  of  a  personal  visit  to  the  reputed  sepulcher, 
the  monstrous  absurdities  of  an  unreasoning  tradition, 
the  frauds  and  impositions  of  a  corrupted  religion,  the 
degradation  and  debasement  of  credulous  pilgrims,  the 
strifes  between  contending  factions  all  professing  Chris- 
tianity, and  all  unworthy  of  the  name,  to  banish  for- 
ever the  dreams  of  my  youth,  and  to  correct  whatever 
tendency  to  superstition  might  have  existed  in  my  im- 
agination." He  discusses  the  restoration  of  the  Jews  to 
Palestine,  and  anticipates  its  accomplishment.  There 
is  real  sublimity  in  his  remarks  on  the  seven  Churches 
of. Asia.  "Ephesus  affords  one  of  the  most  striking 
instances  of  the  mutability  of  human  affairs,  and  per- 
haps of  the  fulfillment  of  divine  predictions,  that  can  be 
found  in  history.  The  wealth  in  the  old  pagan  times 
rivaled,  if  it  did  not  exceed,  that  of  any  of  the  Grecian 
cities  of  Asia  ;  in  the  arts  her  name  was  connected 
with  the  renown  of  Parrhasius  and  Apelles ;  in  architect- 
ure she  far  outstripped  all  her  rivals.  Her  splendid 
temple,  which  required  the  wealth  of  Asia  collected  for 
centuries  for  its  creation,  was  the  wonder  of  the  world, 
and  around  its  sacred  inclosures  the  Persian,  the  Lydian, 
the  Greek,  and  the  Roman  in  turn  bowed  as  worship- 
pers. Nowhere  in  the  world  did  the  old  idolatry  dis- 
play so  much  pomp  and  magnificence.  Nowhere  did  it 
press  into  its  service  with  so  much  success  the  highest 
powers  of  human  art.  But  it  was  not  only  in  the 
palmy  days  of  paganism  that  Ephesus  was  glorious. 


MEMOIR. 


119 


The  visits  of  Paul,  the  preaching  of  Apollos,  the  minis- 
try of  Timothy,  the  faith  and  patience  of  the  first  con- 
verts to  Christianity — these,  and  a  thousand  other  recol- 
lections make  the  early  Christian  days  of  Ephesus  glo- 
rious in  the  annals  of  the  Church.  And  even  after  the 
lessons  of  Paul  and  Timothy  had  been  forgotten,  and 
the  'first  love'  of  the  Ephesian  Church  had  waned,  the 
city  was  still  the  seat  of  Christianity  and  the  chosen 
place  of  assembly  for  her  bishops,  her  synods,  and  her 
councils. 

"  But  all  this  glory  has  departed.  '  Unto  the  angel 
of  the  Church  of  Ephesus  write,'  was  the  message  of 
Christ  by  his  servant  John.  'Remember,  therefore, 
from  whence  thou  art  fallen,  and  repent,  and  do  the  first 
works,  or  else  I  will  come  unto  thee  quickly  and  will 
remove  thy  candlestick  out  of  his  place,  unless  thou 
repent.'  It  was  not  long  before  the  candlestick  was 
removed.  For  a  few  centuries  the  Church  of  Ephesus 
was  powerful,  but  in  that  period  error  and  superstition 
on  the  part  of  the  people,  combined  with  and  fostered 
by  worldly-mindedness  and  ambition  on  the  part  of 
the  lordly  prelates  who  sat  in  the  place  of  Timothy, 
Onesimus,  and  John,  prepared  the  way  for  its  destruction. 
The  Christian  history  of  Ephesus  may  be  said  to  have 
ended  with  the  sixth  century  ;  since  that  period  it  can 
hardly  be  said  that  the  Church  has  existed  there  at  all  ; 
and  now  there  is  neither  angel  nor  candlestick  in  the 
once  flourishing  city.  From  the  ruins  of  her  theater, 
the  scene  of  noble  martyrdoms,  from  the  broken  columns 
and  scattered  sculpture  of  her  temples,  from  the  desola- 
tion of  her  once  peopled  plain  and  terraced  hills,  a  voice, 
audible  enough  to  those  who  will  listen,  proclaims, 
'  He  that  hath  an  ear,  let  him  hear  what  the  Spirit«saith 
unto  the  Churches.' 

"The  promise  of  divine  interposition  in  the  hour  of 


120 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


temptation  is  the  distinguishing  feature  in  the  letter  of 
Jesus  to  the  Philadelphians ;  and  wonderfully  has  it 
been  fulfilled  for  the  last  eighteen  hundred  years.  The 
candlestick  has  never  been  removed  ;  the  angel  of  the 
Church  has  alw  ays  been  there.  The  altar  of  Jesus  has 
been  often  shaken,  both  by  the  imperial  pagan  power 
when  Philadelphia  supplied  eleven  martyrs  as  compan- 
ions to  Polycarp  in  the  flames  at  Smyrna,  and  by  the 
arms  of  the  false  prophet  when  Bajazet  and  Tamerlane 
swept  over  Asia  Minor  like  an  inundation;  yet  it  has 
never  been  overthrown.  The  crumbling  walls  of  twenty 
ruined  churches,  and  the  swelling  domes  and  towering 
minarets  of  a  dozen  mosques,  attest  the  hours  of  fiery 
temptation  ;  yet  three  thousand  Christian  Greeks,  and 
a  half  a  dozen  churches  still  kept  in  repair,  and  still 
vocal  with  praise  to  Jesus,  attest  that  he  has  been 
faithful  to  his  promise,  'I  also  will  keep  thee  from  the 
hour  of  temptation,  which  shall  come  upon  all  the 
world,  to  try  them  that  dwell  upon  the  earth.'  Ephesus 
is  desolate,  and  without  a  Christian  temple  or  altar; 
Laodicea  is  without  inhabitants,  except  the  foxes  and 
jackals  that  prowl  amid  her  circus  and  her  theaters  ; 
Sardis  is  represented  by  one  Turkish  and  one  Greek 
hut;  a  handful  of  downtrodden  Greek  Christians  wor- 
ship in  a  subterranean  chapel  at  Pergamos ;  but,  in  the 
language  of  Gibbon, '  Philadelphia  alone  has  been  saved 
by  prophecy  or  courage.  At  a  distance  from  the  sea, 
forgotten  by  the  emperor,  encompassed  on  all  sides  by 
the  Turks,  she  only  among  the  Greek  colonies  and 
churches  of  Asia  is  still  erect — a  column  in  a  scene  of 
ruins.'"  Christianity  in  the  East  is  considered  with 
solicitude  and  faith,  as  he  knows  the  efforts  of  mission- 
aries doing  their  appropriate  work,  and  regards  them  as 
the  highest  hope  of  the  Oriental  world. 

A  beautiful  illustration  of  the  vein  of  sentiment,  of 


MEMOIR. 


121 


the  delicate  and  almost  feminine  susceptibility  which 
pervaded  Dr.  Durbin's  character,  and  appeared  in  fine 
contrast  to  stronger  qualities,  is  afforded  by  the  neatly- 
arranged  volume  in  which  he  preserved  floral  mementos 
of  various  points  of  interest  in  his  extended  tour 
through  Europe  and  the  East  in  1842. 

Here  are  roses  from  the  soil  over  Pompeii,  then  un- 
disturbed by  the  excavator's  pick,  and  a  cluster  of 
maiden-hair  from  the  fountain  of  the  nymph  Egeria. 
These  leaves  are  from  the  lofty  galleries  of  the  Coli- 
seum, and  these  from  the  walks  in  the  gardens  of 
Cicero.  On  other  pages  are  suggestive  reminders  of 
the  tombs  of  Luther  and  Marshal  Ney,  and  palaces  of 
Frederick  the  Great  at  Potsdam,  and  Mehemet  AH  at 
Cairo. 

As  a  means  of  the  most  definite  instruction,  Dr.  Dur- 
bin  had  a  map  of  the  Holy  Land  prepared  which  was 
used  in  our  Sabbath  schools  as  a  help  to  the  study  of 
the  Scripture. 

Dr.  Durbin  had  knowledge  and  grace  enough  on 
leaving  his  native  land  to  return  a  wiser  and  better 
man.  He  had  a  broader  education,  and  such  verifica- 
tion of  Scriptural  history  as  prepared  him  to  present 
Bible  truths  with  greater  realization  and  effect.  Few 
men  knew  so  well  how  to  render  all  that  they  gain 
available  to  the  highest  purposes  of  evangelical  instruc- 
tion. Not  only  in  books  but  in  the  pulpit  the  results  of 
his  travels  won  their  way  to  the  minds,  and  became 
the  means  of  reaching  the  hearts  of  those  among  whom 
he  moved,  or  to  whom  he  ministered.  To  him  knowl- 
edge was  power.  His  intellectual  store  had  no  dead 
stock.    What  he  had  was  usable,  and  he  used  it. 


122 


JOHN  l\  DUBBIN. 


CHAPTER  IX. 
The  General  Conference  of  1844. 

DR.  DURBIN  led  the  delegation  of  the  Philadelphia 
Conference  in  the  memorable  General  Confer- 
ence of  1844.  No  fact  of  his  history  is  more  worthy 
of  notice  and  commendation  than  his  heroic  conduct 
in  that  great  crisis.  The  marriage  of  Bishop  J.  O. 
Andrew  to  a  lady  in  the  South  owning  slaves  had 
precipitated  upon  the  Church  a  difficulty  that  it  had 
not  anticipated,  as  it  could  not  allow  slave-holding 
in  the  episcopacy.  For  successive  weeks  this  was 
the  burning  question  of  the  body.  The  strongest  min- 
isters delivered  their  greatest  speeches  in  the  debate. 
The  writer  was  present  when  Bishop  Soule  gave  such 
expression  to  the  proposed  action  as  showed  his  desire. 
He  charged  them  to  "  beware  what  they  did,"  adding, 
"the  civilian,  the  jurist,  will  examine  your  action  and 
judge  you  by  this  book,"  holding  the  Discipline  of  the 
Church  in  his  hand.  He  then  asked,  "Where  do  you 
find  authority  in  this  book  to  depose  Bishop  Andrew,  or 
to  do  what  is  proposed  ?  "  It  was  all  the  South  could 
ask  :  it  was  enough  for  the  Church  to  deplore.  Bishop 
Soule,  though  originally  of  the  North,  had  performed 
less  of  his  episcopal  labors  there  than  in  the  South.  He 
was  a  preacher  of  great  ability  and  was  remarkable  for 
personal  dignity.  When  Robert  Newton,  as  delegate 
from  the  Wesleyan  body,  attended  the  General  Confer- 
ence in  Baltimore  in  1840,  and  delivered  his  farewell 
wopds,  he  expressed  the  wish  that  we  would  send  Bishop 
Soule  to  England  as  fraternal  delegate. 


MEMOIR. 


123 


The  General  Conference  appointed  him,  and  he  selected 
the  late  Dr.  T.  13.  Sargent  as  his  traveling  companion. 
In  1842  Bishop  Soule  went  to  England  in  this  official 
character.  His  preaching  received  great  commendation. 
In  person  and  manners  he  was  compared  to  the  Duke 
of  Wellington.  He  was  the  first  Bishop  sent  in  this 
relation.  The  high  honor  rendered  him  at  home  and 
abroad  would  naturally  add  to  the  influence  of  his 
office  and  give  weight  to  his  deliverances. 

It  is  impossible  to  tell  the  strength  or  weakness  of  a 
nation  till  some  great  crisis  reveals  its  resources  in 
men  and  means,  or  what  it  lacks  in  one  or  both  of  these. 
Let  war  rise,  and  patriotism  speaks  as  never  before  ; 
military  prowess  displays  itself ;  diplomacy  achieves  its 
grand  results ;  and  coffers  yield  a  wealth  never  sus- 
pected. Others  now  see,  admire,  and  commend.  Great- 
ness is  confessed.  If  wanting  in  those  things  that  give 
distinction  the  conflict  stamps  the  cause  with  weakness. 

Thus  it  is  in  a  deliberative  body.  It  is  never  fully 
known  what  talent  is  in  it  till  some  subject  or  occasion 
makes  an  appeal  that  rouses  thought,  quickens  intellect, 
and  taxes  the  forces  at  command. 

This  statement  has  its  illustration  in  the  contrast  be- 
tween two  General  Conferences,  the  one  in  Brooklyn, 
in  1872,  the  other  in  New  York,  in  1888.  In  Brooklyn 
there  was  next  to  no  discussion.  Yet  in  that  assembly 
were  some  of  the  strongest  laymen  and  ablest  ministers 
of  the  Church.  There  was  nothing  to  call  them  out, 
and  they  were  not  soldiers  on  parade.  In  New  York 
city  there  probably  was  not,  in  proportion  to  numbers, 
more  talent  than  had  been  in  Brooklyn,  but  there  was 
a  vast  difference  in  the  evidence  furnished.  At  the 
very  beginning  the  question  of  the  eligibility  of  "  wo- 
men as  lay  delegates,"  became  the  absorbing  theme. 
Scores,  not  to  say  hundreds,  were  anxious  to  "show 


124 


JOHN  P.  BUR  BIX. 


their  reason."  For  five  consecutive  days  there  seemed 
no  abatement  of  interest  or  decline  of  eloquence.  The 
warmth  was  maintained,  and  hardly  a  spark  of  the  fire 
was  quenched  till  the  vote  decided  it  in  the  negative. 

The  size  of  the  "Metropolitan  Opera  House,"  where 
they  met,  and  the  difficulty  of  being  heard  by  the  chair, 
induced  almost  a  scream  by  those  eager  to  obtain  the 
floor.  This  added  to  the  seeming  earnestness,  that 
might  half  exhaust  a  speaker  before  he  began  his 
address. 

From  first  to  last  it  was  an  exciting  scene.  At  no 
General  Conference  were  there  ever  so  many  questions 
as  to  rules  of  order  raised — so  many  of  equal  breadth, 
diversity,  and  novel  aspect — so  many  of  privilege. 
Never  were  questions  submitted  to  the  chair  answered 
with  greater  promptness  and  precision,  and  all  this 
when  hands  were  shooting  up  all  over  the  house  like 
the  bayonets  of  an  army. 

But,  able  and  eloquent  as  were  the  debates  of  1888, 
greater  talent  never  showed  itself  in  any  General  Con- 
ference than  was  called  out  in  1844.  The  most  tremen- 
dous issues  were  trembling  in  the  scale.  The  fact  faced 
the  speakers.  Every  mind  wasawrake  ;  every  nerve  was 
tense.  And  there  was  no  heart  not  ready  to  pour  out 
its  fullness.  The  coloring  of  the  thought  was  of  the 
graver  hue.  There  was  some  sharpness,  but  great  depth 
of  feeling.  For  twenty  days  the  cloud  hung  upon  the 
horizon.  Day  after  day  but  deepened  the  gloom  and 
intensified  the  sadness  that  fear  awoke.  In  ability  of 
speech  the  South  was  not  behind  the  North.  Dr. 
Channing  once  said  of  it,  "  Here  eloquence  is  most  at 
home,  as  seen  in  Marshall,  Madison,  Patrick  Henry,  and 
John  Randolph." 

As  an  orator  Henry  B.  Bascom  had  a  national  fame. 
Though  not  accustomed  to  discussing  questions  on  the 


MEMOIR. 


125 


floor,  he  was  a  brilliant  and  powerful  writer.  He  was 
therefore  selected  by  the  Southern  delegates  to  prepare 
the  "  Protest  "  against  the  action  of  the  majority  of 
the  Conference.  In  1828  Dr.  William  Capers,  of  South 
Carolina,  was  appointed  the  representative  of  the  Meth- 
odist Episcopal  Church  to  the  British  Wesleyan  Con- 
ference, where  his  eloquence  won  him  high  honor.  In 
1844  he  still  had  a  smooth  voice,  a  fine  address,  and  was 
distinguished  for  a  steady  flow  of  language  and  for  sil- 
very eloquence.  Such  was  his  reputation  in  the  South 
that  he  was  invited  to  be  the  successor  of  Dr.  Henry  — 
Kollock,  of  the  Presbyterian  church  in  Savannah,  where 
the  salary  was  $4,500;  supposed  to  be  the  highest  at  that 
time  in  the  country.  Dr.  Kollock  was  one  of  the  finest 
preachers  in  the  American  pulpit.  Dr.  Capers  was 
deemed  worthy  to  follow  him.  But  he  was  strongest 
in  debate. 

Dr.  Lovick  Pierce  was  a  princely  man.  He  made  no 
set  speech  on  the  case  of  Bishop  Andrew,  but  was  un- 
yielding in  his  support.  His  son,  George  F.,  late  Bishop 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  South,  was  a  bold 
and  brilliant  speaker.  As  his  father  was  by  some  con- 
sidered our  best  preacher  in  the  South,  so  the  son  was 
deemed  by  many  its  greatest  orator  on  the  platform. 
Though  one  of  the  youngest  members  of  the  General 
Conference,  he  indulged  in  the  most  defiant  utterances. 

William  Winans  ranked  among  the  ablest  preachers 
and  most  skillful  debaters  of  the  South.  He  had  mental 
grasp  and  tenacity  of  purpose.  In  person  he  was  tall, 
slender,  and  almost  hagirard.  But  that  casket  con- 
tained a  precious  jewel.  He  had  a  strong  voice,  and 
his  temperament  and  determination  forbade  its  re- 
straint in  this  discussion.  He  did  not  obey  Bishop 
Soule  in  using  "  soft  words;"  but  he  did  his  best  to. 
give  "  hard  arguments,"  as  the  Bishop  had  suggested. 


126 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


Dr.  William  A.  Smith  was  a  frequent  and  fluent 
speaker.  To  him  the  floor  had  no  terrors.  He  had  a 
quickness  and  aptness  in  discussion  and  repartee  that 
showed  him  to  advantage  ;  but  he  sometimes  did  more 
with  an  off-hand  shot  than  by  deliberate  aim. 

A.  L.  P.  Green  was  remarkable  for  his  colloquial 
style,  easy  address,  and,  as  a  preacher,  for  his  natural- 
ness and  magnetism. 

Rev.  B.  M.  Drake  was  in  an  agony  of  apprehension 
for  results  that  he  was  anxious  to  avert.  In  the  esti- 
mate of  judges  no  man  from  the  South  was  his  superior 
in  polish  and  moral  beauty. 

The  Rev.  A.  B.  Longstreet,  usually  addressed  as 
"Judge,"  enjoyed  the  highest  confidence.  He  well 
knew  the  power  of  language,  and  his  words  lacked 
neither  vigor  nor  sharpness. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  John  Early,  afterward  Bishop  in  the 
Church  South,  w;is  a  strong  character.  There  was  a 
show  of  hauteur  in  his  manners.  His  speeches  were 
brief  and  his  utterances  oracular.  He  had  the  skill  of 
a  leader,  and  he  swayed  men. 

Dr.  Robert  Paine,  afterward  one  of  the  Bishops  of  the 
Southern  Church;  was  deliberate,  firm,  and  influential. 
He  was  modest,  quiet,  and  well  poised.  Men  looked  to 
him  for  safety.  These  were  men  to  be  weighed,  as 
well  as  counted.  Others  there  were  that  we  would 
gladly  name. 

From  the  North  came  George  Pickering,  after  Jesse 
Lee  the  most  honored  pioneer  of  Methodism  in  Xew 
England.  Stephen  Olin,  an  intellectual  and  moral 
colossus.  Nathan  Bangs,  the  historian  of  the  Church. 
George  Peck,  one  of  the  most  honored  ministers  of  his 
day;  he  was  calm,  clear,  and  strong.  James  Porter,  a 
man  of  conviction  and  prompt  action. 

Jesse  T.  Peck,  though  one  of  the  young  members, 


MEMOIR. 


127 


never  more  distinguished  himself  than  in  his  reply  to 
George  F.  Pierce,  who  in  his  flaming  speech  had  said, 
"Let  New  England  go."  Peck  was  full  of  force  and 
-  fire,  but  took  care  of  his  logic  and  rhetoric.  When  he 
closed  Mr.  Pierce  rose  and,  with  amiability  and  wit, 
acknowledged  he  might  owe  an  apology  for  his  unfortu- 
nate expression  about  "  New  England,"  but  added,  "  if 
my  speech  has  shocked  the  nerves  of  Brother  Peck,  my 
explanation  will  not  ruffle  a  hair  upon  the  crown  of  his 
head."  This  was  a  stroke  that  gravity  could  not  resist, 
and  there  was  a  burst  of  laughter.  Then,  as  in  later 
life,  the  "crown  of  his  head"  was  as  destitute  of 
hair,  and  about  as  round  and  bright,  as  a  new  silver 
dollar. 

From  the  West  came  Peter  Akers,  the  erudite,  the 
far-seeing,  and  the  weighty.  Charles  Elliott,  in  patris- 
tic lore  the  scholar  of  the  Church.  James  B.  Finley, 
whose  age,  ability,  and  influence  suggested  him  as  the 
proper  person  to  offer  a  resolution  in  Bishop  Andrew's 
case.  Though  much  younger  in  years  the  character  and 
position  of  J.  M.  Trimble  made  him  a  worthy  seconder 
of  the  motion.  He  still  lives,  as  one  of  the  few  survivors 
of  that  General  Conference.  Peter  Cartwright,  whose 
eccentricities  and  style  diverted  thought,  was  also  dis- 
tinguished for  hard  sense.  Thence  also  came  E.  R. 
Ames,  Edward  Thomson,  L.  L.  Hamlin,  and  Matthew 
Simpson.  For  astuteness,  logical  force,  rhetorical 
beauty,  sublimity  of  thought  and  pathetic  eloquence, 
these  were  men  that  cannot  die  while  history  lives. 
They  were  all  exalted  to  the  episcopate. 

The  border  Conferences  sent  men  that  would  be  dis- 
tinguished in  any  body.  Baltimore  gave  Alfred 
Griffith  and  John  Davis.  The  one  was  the  seconder 
of  the  resolution  that  the  other  offered.  These  were 
mentally  stalwart*  men.    From  the  same  Conference, 


128 


JO  HX  P.  DUE  BIX. 


more  uniformly  prominent  in  debate,  came  John  A.  Col- 
lins, the  parliamentarian  and  orator. 

To  name  no  more  from  the  Philadelphia  Conference, 
in  the  midst  of  that  assemblage  of  the  mighty  men  of 
the  Church  stood  John  Price  Durbin.  The  North,  the 
West,  and  the  border  Conferences,  as  well  as  the  South, 
were  honored  in  their  delegates,  who  were  not  more 
distinguished  by  their  talents  than  by  their  devotion. 
It  was  a  tremendous  conflict.  It  was  like  a  battle 
among  the  gods  of  mythology. 

Bishop  Soule  took  what  he  called  a  favorable  mo- 
ment to  offer  to  the  Conference  a  few  remarks  .  .  . 
before  final  action  ...  on  the  subject  pending  before 
the  Conference.  His  remarks  were  neither  few  nor 
feeble.  They  were  multiplied  and  vigorous.  Dr.  Dur- 
bin rose  to  reply,  and  expressed  the  embarrassment  of 
the  hour,  but  stood  in  the  serene  dignity  of  conscious 
right.  His  mien  was  modest,  but  his  courage  was  com- 
mensurate with  his  convictions,  and  no  dignity  of 
office  or  weight  of  character  on  the  part  of"  an  oppo- 
nent deterred  him  from  duty.  He  was  a  native  of 
Kentucky,  and  was  in  a  position  to  judge  both  of  the 
North  and  the  South,  being  from  a  Conference  that 
contained  slave-holding  territory.  He  was  president  of 
a  college  that  thence  derived  much  of  its  patronage. 
Four  out  of  the  six  delegates  of  the  Conference  that 
he  represented  were  with  the  South.  He  and  the  late 
Bishop  Scott  stood  alone.  It  was  a  "border  Confer- 
ence," the  whole  of  the  State  of  Delaware,  the  east- 
ern shore  of  Maryland  and  of  Virginia  being  included 
within  its  bounds.  No  harder  battles  were  fought  in 
the  division  of  the  Church  than  on  that  ground.  But  he 
was  intent  on  his  purpose.  Though  one  of  the  most  pru- 
dent men  he  squarely  met  the  issue  with  Bishop  Soule. 
He  knew  the  trouble  of  the  Church  in  the  secession  of 


MEMOIR. 


129 


1828.  He  was  in  its  midst,  saw  its  influence,  felt  its 
power,  and  deplored  its  results.  It  was  like  the  iron 
going  afresh  into  his  soul.    He  said  : 

The  first  remark  that  I  have  to  offer  is  in  regard 
to  a  statement  of  Judge  Longstreet,  that  in  the 
early  Church  the  aggression  of  popery  had  always  been 
resisted  by  "  a  pure  and  steadfast  minority."  What  was 
the  application  of  this  remark  ?  Did  the  brother  mean 
to  say  that  the  action  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  in  regard  to  slavery  in  any  way  resembled  the 
growth  of  popery  ?  Or  did  he  mean  to  say  in  this  age 
of  the  world  and  in  this  country  that  the  interests  of 
society,  whether  civil  or  religious,  are  safer  in  the 
hands  of  the  minority  than  of  the  majority?  Sir,  the 
voice  of  history  does  not  say  so.  The  institutions  of 
our  country  do  not  say  so.  The  brother  will  not  go 
before  the  world  and  say  fo. 

The  brother  has  also  stated  very  broadly  that  the 
legislation  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  on  the 
subject  of  slavery  has  always  done  harm  !  So,  then, 
the  objection  is  not  so  much  against  our  action  in  this 
case  as  against  the  uniform  action  of  Methodism  on 
the  general  subject.  Sir,  I  wish  I  could  go  before  the 
world  and  to  the  bar  of  God  with  as  clear  a  conscience 
and  as  firm  a  trust  in  regard  to  every  other  part  of  our 
legislation  as  in  regard  to  our  action  on  slavery.  But 
we  are  told,  again  and  again,  that  we  are  called  here  to 
judge  of  the  laws  of  sovereign  States;  that  in  the  case 
of  Harding,  and  in  every  similar  case,  we  must  be 
judges  of  law — a  business  with  which  we  have  nothing 
to  do.  Nay,  more,  sir;  we  are  told  that  in  the  vote  on 
Harding's  case  this  body  not  only  acted  above  the  law 
of  the  land,  but  above  the  law  of  Methodism — that  we 
voted  to  sustain  not  the  Discipline  of  the  Church,  but 
simply  the  usage  of  the  Baltimore  Conference.  I  have 
heard  this  repeatedly  on  this  floor,  and  have  seen  it 
repeatedly  in  print,  and  fear  that  the  public  mind  has 
really  been  misled  by  these  statements  so  confidently 
reiterated.  But,  sir,  I  deny  the  whole  statement.  It 
is  utterly  groundless.  It  is  unjust,  both  with  regard  to 
10 


130 


JOHX  P.  DURBIX. 


the  Baltimore  Conference  and  this  General  Conference. 
The  sole  question  we  had  to  judge  of  in  Harding's  case 
was,  whether  it  was  practicable  for  him  to  emancipate 
his  slaves.  We  found,  sir,  that  it  was  practicable.  It 
is  to-day  practicable.  On  that  ground,  and  on  that 
ground  only,  in  full  conformity  with  the  provisions  of 
the  Discipline,  we  voted  against  the  motion  to  reverse 
the  decision  of  the  Baltimore  Conference.  We  could 
not  do  otherwise,  sir,  with  the  Discipline  in  our  hands. 
I  did  not  vote,  nor,  I  believe,  did  my  brethren  in  the 
majority,  to  sustain  the  usage  of  the  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence, but  to  sustain  the  laws  of  Methodism. 

We  of  the  North  have  been  repeatedly  taunted  on 
this  floor  with  our  differences  of  opinion  on  the  subject 
of  slavery.  Sir,  whatever  other  differences  of  opinion 
there  may  be  among  us,  on  one  point  there  is  none. 
Our  minds  and  hearts  and  feelings  are  all  united  on  this 
one  point  at  least — that  the  episcopacy  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  ought  not  to  be  trammeled  with  slav- 
ery. On  this  point,  sir,  our  minds  are  as  the  mind  of  one 
man,  and  the  brethren  of  the  South  will  find  it  so.  Nor 
is  this  any  sudden  purpose.  It  is  the  ground  we  have 
always  held,  and  we  shall  be  found  standing  up  for  it, 
shoulder  to  shoulder,  to  the  end  of  the  battle.  We 
have  also  been  told,  sir,  that  the  early  Methodists,  in 
their  protest  against  slavery,  went  further  than  Christ 
and  his  apostles  had  done.  Nay,  sir,  we  have  had 
arguments  to-day  drawn  from  the  Bible  to  sustain 
slavery.  What  do  brethren  mean,  sir?  Is  it  their 
intention  to  plead  the  word  of  God  in  defense  of  slav- 
ery? Do  they  really  believe  with  the  brother  from 
South  Carolina,  who  spoke  this  morning,  that  the  sys- 
tem of  slavery  is  to  find  its  authority  in  the  Decalogue, 
written  by  God's  own  hand?  Sir,  they  cannot  mean 
this;  they  will  not  affirm  this.  And  yet  we  were  gravely 
told  that  because  the  command ment  speaks  of  the  ox 
and  the  ass,  and  the  man-servant  and  maid-servant  in 
the  same  connection,  that  therefore  the  right  of  prop- 
erty was  assumed  on  the  same  ground  for  the  latter  as 
for  the  former.  As  well  go  a  little  further  and  assume 
that  the  wife  too  was  a  chattel,  according  to  the  intent 


MEMOIR. 


131 


of  the  commandment.  O,  sir,  I  hope  we  shall  never 
be  compelled  to  hear  the  Bible,  the  record  of  God's 
truth,  the  charter  of  human  freedom  and  human  rights, 
appealed  to  in  support  of  American  slavery. 

We  have  had  some  strange  statements  here  in  re- 
gard to  the  legislation  of  the  Church  on  the  subject  of 
slavery.  Brethren  have  tried  to  make  the  impression, 
to  use  one  of  their  own  figures,  that  the  North  has 
been  putting  the  screws  on  the  South,  and  continually 
pressing  them  harder,  until  at  last  the  compression  can 
be  endured  no  longer.  Sir,  the  facts  in  the  case  are 
just  the  reverse  of  all  this.  The  history  of  the  Church 
shows  this  point  indisputably  :  that  the  highest  ground 
that  has  ever  been  held  upon  the  subject  was  taken  at 
the  very  organization  of  the  Church,  and  that  conces- 
sions have  been  made  by  the  Church  continually,  from 
that  time  to  this,  in  view  of  the  necessities  of  the 
South;  that,  while  the  antislavery  principle  has  never 
been  abandoned,  our  rules  have  been  made  less  and 
less  stringent,  and  our  language  less  and  less  severe, 
because  experience  has  shown  it  to  be  absolutely  neces- 
sary for  the  welfare  of  the  Church  in  the  South;  and 
these  concessions  have  been  made,  too,  while  the  power 
of  the  Church  has  been  continually  passing  from  the 
slave-holding  to  the  non-slave-holding  States.  I  trust 
brethren  will  bear  this  in  mind.  Without  laying 
stress  upon  Mr.  Wesley's  denunciations  of  slavery,  what 
was  the  declaration  of  the  Church  in  1780  ?  We  pass 
our  disapprobation  on  all  our  friends  who  keep  slaves, 
and  advise  their  freedom."  The  language  of  1784, 
when  the  Church  was  organized,  was  equally  bold.  All 
private  members  were  required  to  emancipate  their 
slaves  in  those  States  where  the  laws  allowed  of  manu- 
mission. The  action  taken  was  too  strong,  sir,  and  in 
six  months  it  was  suspended — in  accordance  with  the 
genius  of  Methodism,  which  does  not  all  the  good  she 
would,  but  all  she  can.  The  Church  then  made  a  con- 
cession to  the  South  on  the  score  of  necessity.  Even 
the  language  of  the  question  on  slavery  was  mitigated. 
In  1796  it  was,  "What  regulations  shall  be  made  for 
the  extirpation  of  the  crying  evil  of  African  slavery?" 


132 


JOIIX  P.  BUR  BIX. 


In  1S04  it  was,  "  What  shall  be  done  for  the  extir- 
pation of  the  evil  of  slavery?"  In  1808  all  that 
relates  to  slave-holding  among  private  members  was 
stricken  out,  and  no  rule  on  the  subject  has  ex- 
isted since.  I  might  advert  to  other  points  to  show 
the  truth  of  my  position,  that  the  Church  has  grad- 
ually made  concessions  to  the  necessities  of  slave-hold- 
ing States  until  our  brethren  from  the  South  say  they 
stand  firmly  on  the  ground  of  Discipline.  But  I  for- 
bear; it  will  not  be  denied  by  any  who  are  conversant 
with  the  history  of  the  Church.  Is  it  necessary  to  make 
still  another  concession,  and  allow  slavery  to  connect 
itself  with  our  episcopacy  ? 

Now,  sir,  I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  these  conces- 
sions ought  not  to  have  been  made.  Our  fathers  wisely 
made  them  on  the  ground  of  necessity.  The  Methodist 
Church  could  not  have  existed  at  all  in  the  South 
without  them.  This  should  be  a  rebuke  to  our  abo- 
lition brethren  every- where  who  would  urge  this  ques- 
tion to  extremities.  I  take  my  stand  on  the  conserva- 
tive ground  of  the  Discipline,  as  far  from  extreme 
opinions  in  the  North  as  in  the  South.  I  have  no  sym- 
pathy with  either.  I  would  not,  dare  not,  urge  on  our 
Southern  brethren  to  a  position  where  they  cannot 
stand.  The  Discipline  has  placed  the  Church  in  the 
proper  relation  to  slavery  in  the  South.  She  does  not 
propose  to  distrust  the  relations  of  our  Southern 
brethren  on  the  question  of  slavery  in  the  South,  but 
to  leave  them  free  to  contend  with  the  evil  in  the  best 
manner  they  can  under  the  laws  of  their  several  States. 
But  while  I  stand  up  firmly  for  their  rights  and  priv- 
ileges, and  shall  be  ever  ready  to  lend  what  weight  I  can 
to  protect  them  if  assaulted,  I  must  beg  our  brethren 
of  the  South  not  to  turn  the  question  of  slavery  upon 
the  North  in  connection  with  our  general  superintend- 
ency.  This  is  the  real  question :  Shall  slavery  be  con- 
nected with  our  episcopacy,  which  is  common  to  all 
parts  of  our  Church,  the  North  as  well  as  the  South, 
and  thus  cause  the  Church  to  give  her  example  in  favor 
of  the  "  great  evil  of  slavery  "  in  a  form  which  will  be 
pleaded  as  decisive  of  her  judgment  in  the  general 


MEMOIR. 


133 


question,  and  in  those  parts  of  the  country  where  no 
necessity  exists  for  such  a  declaration,  and  where  it 
will  fearfully  agitate  our  societies  ?  There  is  no  neces- 
sity in  the  South  for  any  one  of  our  Bishops  to  hold 
slaves  in  order  to  do  his  work  there.  This  is  admitted 
on  all  hands,  while  it  is  as  readily  admitted,  even  by 
the  South,  that  there  are  many  Conferences  "in  which 
his  connection  with  slavery  would  render  his  services 
unacceptable." 

I  come  now,  sir,  with  as  much  delicacy  as  possible, 
to  examine  the  question  of  the  power  of  the  General 
Conference  over  the  Bishops.  It  has  been  maintained 
here,  sir,  that  the  General  Conference  has  no  power  to 
remove  a  Bishop  or  to  suspend  the  exercise  of  his  func- 
tions unless  by  impeachment  and  trial  in  regular  form, 
for  some  offense  regularly  charged.  If  this  be  true, 
sir,  I  Irave  greatly  misunderstood  the  nature  of  our 
episcopacy.  From  whence  is  its  power  derived  ?  Do 
we  place  it  upon  the  ground  of  divine  right  ?  Surely 
not,  sir  ;  you  do  not  plead  any  such  doctrine.  Whence, 
then,  is  it  derived?  Solely,  sir,  from  the  suffrages  of 
the  General  Conference.  There,  and  there  only,  is  the 
source  of  episcopal  power  in  our  Church.  And  the  same 
power  that  conferred  the  authority  can  remove  it,  if 
they  see  it  necessary.  Nor  is  this  a  new  doctrine,  sir. 
The  Minutes  of  1785  declare  that  at  the  organization  of 
the  Church  "  the  episcopal  office  was  made  elective,  and 
the  elected  Superintendent  or  Bishop  amenable  to  the 
body  of  ministers  and  preachers."  The  Notes  to  the 
Discipline  assert  that  the  Bishops  are  'perfectly  subject 
to  the  General  Conference  ;  their  power,  their  useful- 
ness, themselves,  are  entirely  at  the  mercy '  of  that 
body.  Again,  sir,  I  bring  you  the  authority  of  a  wit- 
ness sanctioned  by  the  Conference  of  1792  and  by 
Bishop  Asbury,  and  whose  doctrine  on  this  subject  is 
indorsed  by  our  late  beloved  Bishop  Emory.  I  do  not 
mention  those  venerated  names  for  the  mere  purpose 
of  awaking  the  feelings  of  brethren. 

I  would  not  call  the  sleeping  dead  from  their  hon- 
.  ored  graves,  as  some  have  done  on  this  floor.    No,  sir; 
they  are  escaped  from  all  our  strifes  and  warfare.  Let 


134 


JOEX  P.  DURBIX. 


them  rest,  sir;  let  them  rest.  They  never  saw  the  Meth- 
odist Church  threatened  with  so  tearful  a  storm,  as  that 
which  now  hangs  over  us.  I  know  not  what  they  would 
say  or  do  were  they  with  us  now.  But  hear  my  wit- 
ness :  Rev.  John  Dickins,  the  most  intimate  friend  of 
Bishop  Asbuiy,  in  a  pamphlet  published  in  1792,  as 
already  stated,  with  the  sanction  of  the  General  Con- 
ference, thus  answered  a  question  put  by  Mr.  Hammett 
in  reference  to  tl lis  very  point:  "  Now,  who  ever  said 
the  superiority  of  the  Bishops  was  by  virtue  of  a  sepa- 
rate ordination?  If  this  gave  them  their  superiority 
how  came  they  to  be  removable  by  the  Conference  ? 
We  all  know  Mr.  Asbuiy  derived  his  official  power  from 
the  Conference,  and,  therefore,  his  office  is  at  their  dis- 
posal." "Mr.  Asbuiy  was  thus  chosen  by  the  Confer- 
ence, both  before  and  after  he  was  ordained  a  Bishop; 
and  he  is  still  considered  as  the  person  of  their  choice 
by  being  responsible  to  the  Conference,  who  have  power 
to  remove  him  and  to  fill  his  place  with  another,  if  they 
see  it  necessary.  And  as  he  is  liable  every  year  to  be 
removed  he  may  be  considered  their  annual  choice." 
Bishop  Emory  states  that  this  may  be  considered  as 
expressing  the  views  of  "  Bishop  Asbury  in  relation  to 
the  true  original  character  of  Methodist  episcopacy," 
and  gives  it  tl i e  sanction  of  his  own  authority  by  quot- 
ing and  using  it  in  the  twelfih  section  of  the  Defense 
of  Our  Fathers. 

I  have  thus,  sir,  expressed,  and  I  trust  maintained, 
my  views  of  the  authority  of  the  General  Conference  in 
regard  to  the  episcopal  office.  I  am  sorry,  sir,  that  this 
opinion  differs  somewhat  from  your  own  (if  I  may  be 
permitted  to  address  you  personally),  knowing,  as  I  do, 
that  my  judgment,  thrown  into  the  opposite  scale  to 
yours,  is  but  a  feather  against  a  thousand  pounds' 
weight.    Still,  sir,  I  must  hold  my  opinion. 

A  few  words  now  in  regard  to  the  application  of 
this  power  in  the  present  instance.  The  action  that  is 
proposed  to  be  taken  in  the  case  of  Bishop  Andrew  is 
contained  in  the  substitute  now  before  us.  We  are  told 
that  it  is  in  fact  a  proposition  to  depose  Bishop  Andrew. 
Sir,  we  do  not  so  regard  it.    The  venerable  man  who 


MEMOIR. 


135 


raove^  it  does  not  so  regard  it.  I  am  sure  lie  does  not. 
I  know  him  well  ;  he  has  called  me  "  John,"  sir,  from 
my  boyhood,  and  on  the  day  when  he  offered  this  sub- 
stitute he  called  to  me  across  the  pews,  "  John,  explain 
this  for  me."  Understanding  his  views  of  the  substitute, 
I  now  propose  to  explain  it,  having  the  opportunity  of 
doing  so  for  the  first  time.    It  reads: 

u  Whereas,  The  Discipline  of  our  Church  forbids 
the  doing  of  any  thing  calculated  to  destroy  our  itin- 
erant general  superintendent}' ;  and  whereas,  Bishop  An- 
drew has  become  connected  with  slavery  by  marriage 
and  otherwise,  and  this  act  having  drawn  after  it  cir- 
cumstanees  which,  in  the  estimation  of  the  General 
Conference,  will  greatly  embarrass  the  exercise  of  his 
office  as  general  superintendent,  if  not  in  some  places 
entirely  prevent  it;  therefore, 

"  Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  General 
Conference  that  he  desist  from  the  exercise  of  his  office 
so  long  as  this  impediment  remains." 

Now,  sir,  this  action  is  not  contemplated  without 
cause.  The  preamble  states  the  ground  of  the  action 
clearly  and  distinctly  in  a  statement  of  undisputed  and 
indisputable  facts.  And  what  does  the  resolution  pro- 
pose ?  Expulsion?  No,  sir.  Deposition?  No.  If  I 
am  pressed  to  a  decision  of  this  case  in  its  present  form 
I  shall  vote  for  that  substitute,  and  so  will  many  others; 
but  if,  after  we  have  voted  for  it,  any  man  should  come 
and  tell  us  personally  that  we  have  voted  to  depose 
Bishop  Andrew,  we  should  consider  it  a  personal — shall 
I  say  insult,  sir?  The  substitute  proposes  only  to  ex- 
press the  sense  of  this  Conference  in  regard  to  a  mat- 
ter which  it  cannot,  in  duty  and  conscience,  pass  by 
without  suitable  expression  ;  and,  having  made  the 
solemn  expression,  it  leaves  Bishop  Andrew  to  act  as 
his  sense  of  duty  shall  dictate.  Will  any  of  the  breth- 
ren on  the  other  side  of  the  house  tell  us  that  if  such  is 
our  deliberate  sense,  and  we  deem  it  our  duty  to  the 
Church  to  say  so,  we  ought  to  suppress  it  ?  One 
brother  answers,  "  Yes."  I  will  not  take  that  brother's 
answer  for  the  answer  of  the  South.  There  is  too 
much  magnanimity  among  the  brethren  of  that  region 


136 


JOHX  P.  DURBIN. 


of  chivalry  to  allow  of  such  an  answer  from  them.  In 
passing  this  substitute — if  we  do  pass  it — we  make  a 
clear  declaration  against  the  connection  of  slavery  with 
our  episcopacy,  a  declaration  which  we  cannot  avoid 
making  if  Ave  would,  and  ought  not  if  we  could  ;  a 
declaration,  sir,  which  the  world  will  approve.  I  will 
take  the.  excellent  advice  which  you  gave  us  this  morn- 
ing, sir,  and  not  appeal  to  the  passions  of  this  Confer- 
ence, nor  to  the  audience  in  the  gallery;  hut  if  an  ap- 
peal must  be  made,  sir,  to  any  tribunal  out  of  this  body, 
we  are  willing  to  abide  by  the  verdict  of  the  world,  sir, 
and  by  the  decision  of  a  far  higher  tribunal.  There, 
sir,  we  shall  fear  no  reversal  of  our  action  in  this  ca>e. 

O  sir,  when  we  were  left  to  infer  this  morning, 
from  the  remarks  of  the  Chair,  that  the  passage  of  this 
substitute  would  affect  not  only  Bishop  Andrew,  but 
perhaps  others  of  our  Bishops,  I  could  not  but  feel  that 
a  momentary  cloud  gathered  before  my  eyes  to  dim  the 
clearness  of  my  vision.  The  feelings  which  that  remark 
excited  were  not  calculated  to  give  greater  freedom  to 
the  action  of  my  reason  or  greater  precision  to  my 
judgment.  But,  strong  as  were  and  are  those  feelings, 
they  cannot  stifle  my  conscience  or  darken  my  under- 
standing. I  have  read  in  the  public  reports  of  the  pro- 
ceedings during  my  absence  some  things  that  gave  me 
great  pain.  Mention  has  been  made  here  of  proceed- 
ings at  law — of  the  possibility  of  obtaining  an  "  injunc- 
tion" upon  the  Book  Concern,  and  stopping  rmr  presses. 
I  am  sorry  such  words  have  been  altered  here.  Per- 
haps such  an  injunction,  might  be  issued.  I  do  not 
know  but  a  judge  or  chancellor  might  be  found  (though 
I  do  not  believe  it)  wicked  enough  to  rejoice  in  our  dif- 
ficulties and  exult  over  our  strife.  Ah,  sir,  wicked  men 
would  indeed  exult  in  it!  Satan  would  exult  in  it. 
Perhaps,  I  say,  such  an  injunction  might  be  obtained; 
but  what  then?  You  may  lay  an  injunction  upon  types 
and  presses  and  newspapers,  but,  thank  God  !  no  in- 
junction can  be  laid  upon  an  honest  conscience  and  an 
upright  mind.  The  Book  Concern  !  There  is  no  man 
here,  I  am  sure,  whose  soul  is  so  mean  and  paltry  as  to 
be  influenced  by  such  a  motive.    Sir,  that  Book  Con- 


MEMOIR. 


cern  was  burned  down  once,  and  I  grieved  over  its  de- 
struction ;  but  gladly  would  I  see  it  destroyed  again 
this  night — gladly  would  I  welcome  the  first  flash  of 
light  that  might  hurst  into  that  window,  even  though 
in  the  conflagration  buildings,  types,  presses,  paper, 
plates,  and  all,  were  this  night  to  be  destroyed — if  it 
could  place  the  Church  back  where  she  was  only  six 
months  ago. 

Before  I  sit  down  I  desire  to  call  the  attention  of 
the  Conference  to  a  proposition  made  by  the  brethren 
from  the  South  in  the  Committee  of  Pacification.  The 
language  of  part  of  that  proposition  was,  "that  Bishop 
Andrew  should  not  be  required  to  preside  in  any  an- 
nual Conference  in  which  his  connection  with  slavery 
would  render  his  services  unacceptable."  Now,  sir, 
here  was  a  clear  admission  of  the  fact  that  Bishop 
Andrew's  position  did  render  him  unacceptable  to 
many  of  the  Conferences,  and  a  proposition  founded, 
upon  it.  Keeping  the  admission  in  mind,  and  recollect- 
ing that  we  are  forbidden  by  the  constitution  to  do 
any  tiling  that  shall  impair  our  itinerant  general  super- 
intendence', I  beg  the  Conference  to  look  at  the  bear- 
ing of  this  proposition,  and  of  similar  ones  that  have 
been  made  here  from  time  to  time.  It  is  wrong  to  do 
that  for  one  of  the  Bishops  which,  if  done  for  all,  would 
be  destructive  to  the  system.  Now,  sir,  suppose  that 
you  should  become  an  Abolitionist,  and  on  that  account 
you  could  not  go  to  the  South;  for  the  same  reasons 
precisely  a  resolution  might  be  brought  here  to  confine 
your  services  to  the  East.  Suppose  some  similar  con- 
tingency to  continue  another  Bishop  in  the  North  and 
another  in  the  West — is  not  our  itinerant  general  super- 
intendency  effectually  destroyed  ?  Assuredly  it  is,  and 
it  seems  to  me  that  we  cannot  take  the  first  step  to- 
ward such  a  result  without  violating  the  constitution  as 
it  now  stands. 

I  am  free  to  declare  that  I  do  not  wish  to  come  to  a 
direct  vote  on  this  momentous  question.  I  have  looked 
long  and  earnestly  for  some  way  to  escape.  I  have 
hoped  our  brethren  of  the  South  could  agree  to  say  to 
this  Conference,  "  Brethren,  we  have  been  very  unex- 


138 


JOBX  p.  DUBBIN. 


pectedly  and  unintentionally  the  occasion,  in  the  person 
of  our  beloved  bishop,  of  bringing  the  Church  into  great 
danger ;  we  had  not  apprehended  such  a  cloud  as  now 
covers  our  Zion;  we  have  stood  up  for  what  we  believed 
to  be  our  rights  and  the  interests  of  the  Church  in  the 
South  ;  we  have  heard  you  feelingly  and  plainly  declare 
the  certain  danger  which  threatens  you  in  the  North. 
The  sacrifice  of  the  peace  and  unity  of  the  Church  is 
t  >o  costly  a  sacrifice  to  be  made  almost  by  accident; 
postpone  all  proceedings  in  this  unfortunate  case  and 
we  will  see  that  the  Church  suffer  no  harm."  Such  an 
announcement  as  this  would  come  upon  the  Conference 
and  the  Church  like  a  message  from  heaven;  and  no 
man  would  ask  you  how,  when,  or  where  you  are  going 
to  deal  with  the  case.  This  Conference  and  the  Church 
would  trust  your  word  and  your  religion  in  the  case, 
and  ask  no  questions.  I  will  conclude,  sir,  by  saying,  a 
few  days  ago  Brother  Early,  from  Virginia,  threw  out 
a  suggestion  :it  the  close  of  the  session — namely,  "  might 
not  this  matter  be  referred  back  to  the  Church  or  the 
Conferences?"  This  course  was  distinctly  advised  by 
yourself,  sir,  this  morning  in  your  address  to  the  Con- 
ference. These  weighty  facts  led  me  to  believe  that 
the  North  would  meet  the  South  on  the  following  reso- 
lution, which  I  would  willingly  offer  if  I  had  the  least 
intimation  that  our  brethren  from  the  South  would 
meet  us  on  it — namely: 

"Resolved,  That  the  case  of  Bishop  Andrew  be  refer- 
red to  the  Church,  and  that  the  judgment  of  the  next 
General  Conference  be  deemed  and  taken  to  be  the 
voice  of  the  Church,  whether  Bishop  Andrew  shall  con- 
tinue to  exercise  his  functions  as  a  general  superinten- 
dent in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  while  he  sustains 
the  relation  to  slavery  as  stated  in  his  communication 
to  the  Conference,  as  reported  to  the  Conference  by  the 
Committee  on  the  Episcopacy.  " 

In  the  speech  of  Dr.  Durbin  the  orator  as  well  as  the 
logician  appeared.  No  one  can  tell  the  energy,  the 
pathos,  and  the  moral  majesty  of  the  man  when,  drawing 
to  a  close  of  his  weighty  address,  he  exclaimed,  "  O  ! 


MEMOIR. 


139 


sir,  we  were  left  to  infer  this  morning,"  etc.  As  lie 
spoke  of  the  predicted  result  of  the  passage  of  the 
resolution,  and  of  a  remark  that  had  been  indulged  not 
calculated  to  "give  greater  freedom  to  the  action  of  his 
reason  or  greater  precision  to  his  judgment,"  yet  de- 
claring that  strong  as  were  those  feelings  they  could 
not  stifle  his  convictions  or  darken  his  understanding; 
and  when  the  apprehension  was  expressed  that  an  in- 
junction might  be  secured  upon  the  Book  Concern — an 
event  that  would  cause  Satan  to  exult:  yet  even  the 
conflagration  that  might  destroy  building,  types,  presses, 
paper,  plates,  would  be  a  slight  matter  to  him  if  it 
could  place  the  Church  back  where  it  was  six  months 
before — with  an  emotion  that  imagination  may  never 
reproduce  he  showed  the  power  of  speech  when  pervaded 
by  the  deepest  sympathy,  the  profoundest  conviction, 
and  the  intensest  grief. 

Afterward,  as  chairman  of  the  committee  consisting 
of  J.  P.  Durbin,  George  Peck,  and  Charles  Elliott,  to 
reply  to  the  protest  from  the  South  by  their  committee 
through  Dr.  Bascom  as  chairman,  Dr.  Durbin  declares, 
the  doctrine  advocated  in  the  "Protest  "  is  "novel  and 
dangerous  in  the  Methodist  Church,  that  such  diffi- 
culties cannot  be  corrected  unless  the  person  objected 
to  be  personally  arraigned  under  some  specific  law  to 
be  found  in  the  concise  code  of  the  Discipline — doc- 
trine not  the  less  dangerous  because  it  is  applied  where 
*  objections,  unimportant  in  others  might  be  productive 
of  the  most  dangerous  consequences.' " 

The  speech  of  Dr.  Durbin,  and  the  answer  to  the 
"  Protest,"  together  with  that  most  powerful  and  con- 
vincing speech  of  the  late  Bishop  Hamlin,  have  gone 
into  our  history  as  the  most  intelligent  vindication  of 
our  economy  and  of  the  inflexible  purpose  of  the  de- 
nomination to  keep  its  episcopacy  clear  from  the  evil  of 


140 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


American  slavery,  though  at  so  great  a  cost  as  the  divis- 
ion of  the  body. 

The  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  has  passed  through 
three  periods  of  great  perplexity  and  peril.  In  1792, 
when  James  O'Kelly  made  a  schism:  in  1828,  when  the 
conflict  resulted  in  the  organization  of  the  Methodist 
Protestant  Church:  and  in  1844,  when  the  Church  di- 
vided between  North  and  South.  It  was  our  comfort  in 
1792  to  have  John  Dickins  as  a  power  to  sustain.  It 
was  our  joy  that  in  1828  Dr.  John  Emory  and  Dr. 
Thomas  E.  Bond  were  equal  to  her  defense.  Nor  can 
the  time  ever  come  when  the  Church  will  forget  the 
service  rendered  her  in  1844  by  L.  L.  Hamliu  and 
J.  P.  Durbin.  The  difficulty  of  1792  was  a  burning 
fever  ;  the  secession  of  1828  was  a  lancinating  pain  ; 
but  Bishop  Andrew's  case  in  1844  rent  the  body  and 
covered  the  Church  with  enervating  gloom.  But  Drs. 
Hamlin  and  Durbin  then  threw  around  our  economy  a 
breastwork  of  argument  that  the  heaviest  artillery  failed 
to  impair. 

That  Dr.  Durbin,  then  only  forty-four  yenrs  old, 
should  have  had  the  position  of  chairman  of  the  most 
important  committee  of  the  General  Conference,  though 
the  first  General  Conference  of  which  he  ever  was  a 
member,  is  strong  evidence  of  the  confidence  reposed  in 
his  wisdom.  That  he  performed  his  part  with  such 
ability  did  honor  to  the  choice. 


MEMOIR. 


141 


CHAPTER  X. 

His  Pastorate  and  Presiding-  Eldership  in 
Philadelphia. 

IN  1845,  having  resigned  the  presidency  of  Dickinson 
College,  he  returned,  after  the  absence  of  twenty-five 
years,  to  the  pastorate,  and  was  stationed  at  the  Union 
Church,  Philadelphia.  Some  believed  that  for  his  repu- 
tation this  was  a  mistake.  He  had  been  in  great  demand 
on  special  occasions,  and  these  exerted  their  greatest 
power  through  the  commanding  influence  of  his  presence 
and  ministry.  His  sermons,  addresses,  and  lectures  had 
made  him  a  peerless  preacher.  It  was  thought  im- 
possible for  him  to  sustain  himself  with  his  two  ser- 
mons every  Sabbath.  He  had- said  that  no  man  should 
be  expected  to  preach  more  than  once  a  day  to  the 
same  congregation.  Two  such  as  he  preached  on  extra 
occasions  no  man  could  deliver.  They  were  often  an 
'hour  and  a  quarter,  or  possibly  an  hour  and  a  half,  and 
even  two  hours  in  length,  and  with  a  physical  expendi- 
ture as  well  as  mental  tax  that  would  break  down  the 
strongest  man.  On  entering  upon  this  charge  he  dis- 
played the  practical  wisdom  that  distinguished  him  in 
every  place.  It  was  shown  in  the  disposition  of  his 
time,  in  the  devotion  of  his  talents,  and  the  direction  of 
his  resources  to  the  best  results.  There  was  a  ready 
recognition  of  all  departments  of  his  work,  and  he  ad- 
dressed himself  to  every  duty  with  an  interest  and 
energy  that  made  efficacy  inevitable.  From  the  begin- 
ning to  the  end  he  commanded  a  congregation  that 


142 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


filled  and  thronged  the  church,  and  his  sermons  were 
regarded  as  incomparable  in  excellence  and  power. 

He  was  a  faithful  and  edifying  pastor.  As  in  Cin- 
cinnati, so  in  Philadelphia,  he  showed  the  importance 
he  attached  to  this  duty.  Here,  where  the  preacher  is 
seen  in  his  sympathy,  solicitude,  and  spiritual  qualifica- 
tions as  he  can  nowhere  else  appear,  he  conversed 
with  the  sick,  the  sorrowing,  the  tempted,  and  such  as 
might  be  disturbed  by  questions  of  conscience,  and  im- 
parted the  instruction  and  cheer  that  were  the  highest 
commendation  of  his  holy  labor.  His  visits  to  his 
people  were  neither  formal  nor  perfunctory,  and  they 
secured  the  end  he  sought. 

The  late  John  Whit  email,  Esq.,  who  was  a  member 
of  his  charge,  and  one  of  the  most  intelligent  Method- 
ists in  Philadelphia,  and  who  from  his  relation  to  Dr. 
Durbin  as  trustee  of  Dickinson  College  and  otherwise 
knew  him  perhaps  as  well  as  any  man  in  the  city,  said 
to  the  writer,  we  "knew  when  Dr.  Durbin  came  to  our 
charge  that  we  were  receiving  a  great  preacher,  but  we 
did  not  know  what  experience  has  shown  us — that  in 
him  we  have  also  one  of  the  best  pastors." 

He  would  have  necessary  time  for  his  studies,  and  if 
disturbed  would  appear  and  stand,  and,  if  no  business 
was  expressed,  asked,  "  Is  there  any  thing  I  can  do  for 
you  ?"  If  there  wTas  no  duty  in  the  call  there  was  one 
in  his  study,  and  he  resumed  it.  To  be  able  to  deliver 
t  wo  sermons  to  please  and  profit  the  people,  as  well  as 
to  dispose  with  judgment  his  material,  he  cut  his  ser- 
mons down  to  fifty  minutes  and  divided  one  day  into 
t wo.  He  retired  after  the  morning  sermon  just  as  he 
did  at  night,  and  took  such  rest  as  nature  demanded, 
that  he  might  come  to  his  work  at  night  with  the  fresh- 
ness of  the  morning.  These  sermons  were  listened  to 
by  many  students  of  the  university  and  medical  col- 


MEMOIR. 


143 


leges,  as  well  as  by  his  own  people,  with  delight  and 
profit.  He  delivered  special  discourses  to  young  men, 
and  was  honored  in  seeing  many  of  them  come  into  the 
Church,  of  whom  quite  a  number  entered  the  ministry. 
An  extensive  revival  followed  his  preaching,  and  he 
was  loved  as  well  as  honored. 

He  was  full  of  work.  His  character  as  a  preacher 
was  maintained,  while  as  a  student  he  was  constantly 
making  valuable  accessions  to  the  stores  of  his  knowl- 
edge. He  kept  himself  up  in  the  literature  of  the  day, 
and  in  all  his  reading  was  the  thinker  and  the  critic. 
He  read  to  judge.  It  was  for  assimilation  or  rejection. 
And  as  "  aliment  is  changed  to  vital  blood,"  so  he  was 
becoming  more  and  more  the  man  of  power.  Thirty 
years  ago  the  writer  said,  on  the  physiologist's  theory 
that  the  human  body  so  changes  in  every  seven  years 
as  to  present  a  new  one,  so  Dr.  Durbin  gained  enough 
knowledge  every  seven  years  to  make  another  great 
man.  The  first  seven  years  of  his  ministry  raised  the 
uneducated  youth  to  the  professor  of  languages;  other 
sevens  wrere  appropriated  with  equal  judgment.  He 
could  not  live  without  work,  and  he  knew  how  to  do  it 
with  advantage.  It  was  as  if,  with  an  ancient  philoso- 
pher, he  made  it  a  practice  "  to  do  some  difficult  thing 
every  day,"  or  as  if  his  motto  was,  "  no  day  without  its 
line,"  or,  still  stronger, 

"  Deem  that  day  lost  whose  low  descending  sun, 
Sees  from  thy  hand  no  worthy  service  done.''' 

He  gave  a  week-night  lecture  on  "  Bible  lands." 
His  tour  and  studies  in  the  East  "  furnished  necessary 
material."  These  discourses  were  sought  with  eager- 
ness  and  heard  with  delight.  The  writer  has  recently 
seen  a  lady  in  Philadelphia  who  was  drawn  to  his  church 
by  the  interest  that  these  awakened.    From  her  youth 


144 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


she  had  not  only  been  a  reader  but  even  a  student  of 
the  Scriptures.  These  lectures  met  her  wish.  She 
was  charmed  by  the  richness  of  the  matter,  the  famil- 
iarity of  the  style,  and  the  directness  of  the  address. 
She  then  attended  his  Sabbath  sermons,  and  though  of 
another  denomination  she  felt  she  owed  it  to  her 
highest  good  that  she  join  his  Charge,  which  she 
did,  and  to  this  day  she  continues  a  devoted  member 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Wishing  to  re- 
tain as  much  as  she  might  of  the  sermons  that 
yielded  her  so  much  profit  she  took  ample  notes. 
These  she  retains,  and  prizes  for  the  memories  they  re- 
vive and  as  choice  treasures  of  the  mind  and  heart. 
To  these  the  writer  has  been  permitted  access.  They 
show  the  spirit  of  the  man  and  the  care  with  which  he 
presented  doctrinal,  practical  and  experimental  religion. 
They  have  a  wide  range  but  a  close  application.  They 
instruct,  encourage,  and  exalt.  In  this  Dr.  Durbin 
showed  the  pastor  after  God's  own  heart.  "  Repent- 
ance," "conversion,"  "secret  seeking  after  God,"  "jus- 
tification by  faith,"  "death,"  "the  punishment  of  the 
wicked." 

Scriptural  biography  was  made  n  powerful  means  of 
enforcing  truth.  With  what  skill  did  he  present  the 
case  of  Esau  ;  the  sad  condition  of  Balaam ;  the  lessons 
of  Lot's  wife  and  the  moral  grandeur  of  Christian 
heroism  in  the  "  death  of  Stephen."  So  simple,  direct 
and  impressive  were  the  sermons  of  Dr.  Durbin  not- 
withstanding his  reputation  of  a  great  preacher,  that 
children  could  understand.  The  wife  of  the  Rev. 
A.  H.  Ames,  D.D.,  of  the  Des  Moines  Conference,  when 
:i  child  of  nine  years,  on  hearing  a  sermon  from  Dr. 
Durbin  on  "  the  harvest  is  past  and  the  summer  is 
ended,  and  we  are  not  saved,"  says  she  was  so  im- 
pressed that  she  felt  that  she  could  not  delay  giving 


MEMOIR. 


145 


her  heart  to  God,  and  at  that  early  age  was  con- 
verted. 

It  was  no  uncommon  thing  for  Dr.  Durbin  to  preach 
a  series  of  sermons  upon  a  theme  or  a  history.  He  had 
one  on  "the  life  of  Christ;"  another  on  "  Christ  under 
the  old  dispensation,"  another  on  the  "kingdom  of 
Christ."  With  the  beatitudes  he  spent  several  Sabbaths. 
On  a  week  night  he  delivered  a  series  of  lectures  on 
the  epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  and  dwelt  particularly  on 
the  "  priesthood  of  Christ." 

It  clearly  appears  from  the  notes  how  full  were  his 
thoughts  of  the  glory  of  Christ's  character  ;  of  the 
grandeur  of  his  dominion  ;  of  the  righteousness  of  his 
claim  and  of  the  blessings  he  brought  to  men.  Nor 
did  he  fail  to  show  "the  priesthood  of  Christ,"  in  lan- 
guage of  assurance,  of  exaltation,  and  of  divine  power. 

In  the  administration  of  the  "  Lord's  Supper,"  in  the 
address  he  made  and  in  the  spirit  that  pervaded  the 
service,  it  is  said  communion  was  an  occasion  of  rare 
manifestations  of  grace,  and  that  after  the  benediction 
was  pronounced  the  people  would  linger  as  at  the  gate 
of  heaven  and  ready  to  enter. 

Full  as  Dr.  Durbin  was  of  the  work  of  a  pastor  while 
in  Philadelphia,  he  nevertheless  cherished  a  desire  to 
help  young  ministers  in  the  study  of  sacred  eloquence. 
To  this  end  he  formed  a  class  to  which  he  gave  the 
observation  and  experience  of  his  life.  The  writer  .was 
permitted  a  place  with  the  favored  few  that  formed  it, 
and  he  can  never  forget  some  of  the  important  lessons 
that  he  strove  to  impress.  To  three  of  these  we  may 
give  some  notice  : 

1.  As  to  the  length  of  a  sermon. 

In  a  pastoral  charge  it  should  not  as  a  rule  transcend 
forty-five  or  fifty  minutes.  But  he  supposed  a  preacher 
might  say,  "  I  am  not  through  my  plan,  and  some  of 
11 


116 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


my  best  matter  is  yet  to  come."  To  this  his  prompt 
reply  was  :  "  The  people  do  not  know  what  you  have 
in  store,  and  can  feel  no  privation  from  your  withhold- 
ing it.  Keep  it  for  another  occasion,  and  know  the 
value  of  husbanding  your  material.  You  have  had  time 
enough  to  feed  them  with  knowledge.  They  will 
receive  it  better  when  they  are  hungry  for  the  word." 
Surfeiting  sickens. 

2.  Take  texts  that  have  the  Gospel  in  them. 

Here  he  related  his  experience  as  given  by  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Roberts.  He  selected  the  passage,  "  The  trees  of 
the  Lord  are  full  of  sap."  With  some,  analogical  ser- 
mons were  popular.  Dr.  Adam  Clarke  notices  the  pos- 
sibility of  going  too  far  in  such  efforts.  Keech  on  the 
Metaphors  is  a  fruitful  source  of  such  discourse,  and 
it  has  its  use.  Bunyan  showed  its  power  in  "  Solomon's 
Temple  Spiritualized."  But  young  Durbin  did  not  have 
a  good  time.  The  venerable  Solomon  Sharp  said,  in 
such  cases  "the  preacher  got  in  the  bushes."  Well,  it 
is  a  very  embarrassing  position,  especially  if  the  bushes 
are  in  the  mire.  It  is  worse  than  a  tangle.  "  The  Boy 
Preacher  "  got  into  "  the  tree,"  and  though  it  was  one 
of  the  trees  of  the  Lord  he  did  not  find  it  so  easy  and 
expeditious  a  thing  to  get  down  as  Zaccheus  did.  He 
talked  about  "  trees,"  "  trees,"  "  trees,"  till  for  a  time 
he  would  have  been  glad  if  he  could  have  just  been  a 
"tree"  and  no  preacher.  He  talked  about  "sap," 
"sap,"  "sap,"  till  he  felt  too  sapient.  For  such  aspi- 
ration in  preaching  Durbin  was  ready  to  say, 

"  I  charge  thee,  fling  away  ambition." 

3.  As  a  general  preparation  for  preaching  he  urged 
storing  the  memory  with  the  best  passages  of  literature, 
whether  in  poetry  or  prose.  They  were  to  be  so  at  the 
command  of  the  preacher  that  if  they  came  appositely 


MEMOIR. 


147 


the  memory  would  throw  them  off,  in  the  order  of  ex- 
temporaneous speech,  and  so  add  force  to  the  sermon. 
Any  one  familiar  with  the  "sermons  and  plans  of  Joseph 
Benson,"  one  of  the  best  theologians  and  ablest  preachers 
in  early  Wesley  an  Methodism,  will  see  what  use  he 
made  of  the  best  poets. 

Ganganelli,  who  had  given  so  much  time  to  sermon- 
izing, when  writing  to  an  abbe  in  relation  to  the  "  Soul 
of  Christian  Eloquence"  urges  upon  him  better  ac- 
quaintance with  the  "  Fathers  of  the  Church."  He 
says,  "  They  are  like  the  fertile  trees,  which  ornament 
gardens  while  they  enrich  them."  He  compares  the 
genius  of  Tertullian  to  iron,  which  breaks  the  hardest 
bodies  and  will  not  bend;  Athanasius  to  the  diamond, 
which  can  neither  be  deprived  of  luster  nor  solidity; 
Cyprian  to  steel,  which  cuts  to  the  quick;  Chrysostom 
to  gold,  whose  value  is  equal  to  its  beauty;  .  .  .  Jerome 
to  brass,  which  neither  dreads  swords  nor  arrows ;  Am- 
brose to  silver,  which  is  solid  and  shining  ;  Gregory  to 
a  mirror,  in  which  every  one  sees  himself. 

The  advantage  of  a  judicious  use  of  such  resources 
may  be  judged  by  the  high  authorities  whence  they 
issue  and  observation  as  to  the  effect. 

When  his  aid  was  asked  by  a  young  minister  with 
regard  to  helps  in  his  pursuit  of  necessary  knowledge, 
he  gave  the  following  "  What  and  How  to  Study."  In 
this  he  expresses  his  views  of  what  ought  to  constitute 
a  young  minister's  library  after  completing  his  Confer- 
ence course.    He  writes : 

Philadelphia,  July  12,  1847. 
Dear  Brother:  I  have  not  neglected  your  letter  of 
June  13.  I  have  been  busy  and  absent,  and  it  requires 
some  time  to  give  you  a  judicious  answer.  Below  you 
have  such  books  as  I  suppose  would  be  suitable  to  be 
read  in  addition  to  your  Conference  course.  Perhaps 


148 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


L,  IV.,  and  V.  might  be  read  together,  then  II.  and 
III.,  and  then  VI.  and  VII.  You  should  have  an  Index 
Rerum  to  insert  references,  and  a  commonplace  blank- 
book  in  which  to  copy  any  sentence  or  to  write  any  re- 
marks of  your  own  as  you  read;  also  a  blank-book  in 
which  to  insert  texts  for  sermons  as  they  occur  in  your 
reading,  and  such  subordinate  divisions  under  each 
head  as  may  occur  to  you  at  the  time.  Thus  you  will 
collect  a  magazine  of  material  for  use  in  the  pulpit.  If 
you  were  with  me  an  hour  in  my  own  study  I  could 
show  you  much  more  readily  and  clearly  how  to  pro- 
ceed. If  you  are  in  the  city  call  and  see  me.  It  will 
give  pleasure  to  aid  you. 

L  Profane  History. 

1.  Tyler's  Universal  History. 

2.  Gibbon's  Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire. 

3.  Hallam's  Middle  Ages. 

4.  Russell's  Modern  Europe. 

II.  Church  History. 

1.  Ruter's. 

2.  Mosheim's. 

3.  Gieseler's,  3  vols,  (very  good.) 

4.  Neander's. 

5.  Milman's  History  of  Christianity. 

6.  Neander's  Planting  and  Training. 

III.  Theology. 

1.  Schruncher's  or  Stockhouse's  Body  of  Divinity. 

2.  Dwight's  Theology. 

3.  Storrs's  and  Flatt's  Theology. 

4.  Knapp's  Theology. 

IV.  Interpretation  of  the  Scriptures. 

1.  Ernesti  on  Interpretation. 

2.  Clarke's  Commentary. 

3.  Benson's  Commentary. 

4.  D'Oyly  and  Mant's  Notes. 

5.  South  and  Patrick's  Commentary. 

V.  Helps  to  Interpretation. 

1.  John's  Hebrew  Commonwealth. 

2.  John's  Biblical  Archeology. 

VI.  Doctrines  and  Interpretation. 

1.  Burnet  on  the  Thirty-nine  Articles. 

2.  Pearson  on  the  Creed. 

VII.  Scripture  Geography  and  History. 

1.  Robinson  and  Smith's  Palestine. 

2.  Home's  three  volumes,  late  edition. 


MEMOIR. 


149 


VIII.  Homiletica. 

1.  Porter's  Lectures  on  Homiletics. 

2.  Preachers'  Manual. 

3.  Claude's  Essay  on  Composition  of  a  Sermon. 

IX.  Townsend's  Bible,  arranged  chronologically,  should  be  used  in 
daily  reading,  with  at  least  two  commentaries  at  hand  to  consult 
when  necessary,  as  well  as  biblical  dictionaries  and  other  books 
of  reference. 

The  desire  of  Dr.  Durbinthat  young  ministers  should 
have  every  facility  for  their  improvement,  was  clearly 
brought  out  in  the  days  of  his  editorship,  as  appears  in 
various  articles  from  his  pen.  So  far  did  he  go,  as  we 
have  seen  in  his  editorial  of  July  18,  1834,  as  to  advo- 
cate a  "  Theological  Seminary." 

In  all  young  men  he  had  a  deep  interest  as  the  hope 
of  the  country  as  of  the  Church.  He  felt  the  impor- 
tance of  impressing  them  with  sound  principles  of  mo- 
rality, of  broadening  their  intelligence,  and  of  adding 
weight  to  character  by  the  lessons  of  wisdom  that  they 
should  carefully  study. 

While  pastor  in  Philadelphia  he  wrote  an  introduc- 
tion to  Burgh's  Rules  for  the  Conduct  of  Life,  as  a 
means  of  inculcating  correct  conduct.  We  quote  his 
language: 

The  instructions  and  rules  contained  in  this  unpre- 
tending volume  are  not  applicable  only  or  chiefly  to 
the  emergencies  which  may  arise  in  our  affairs,  but  also 
to  the  ordinary  business  and  relations  of  life.  Success 
in  these  respects  depends  chiefly  on  some  settled  plan, 
and  a  few  sound  maxims  by  which  we  are  steadily 
guided.  President  Edwards  owed  much  of  his  great- 
ness to  seventy-five  rules  which  he  drew  up  for  his 
daily  conduct;  and  although  they  are  not  so  generally 
applicable  to  the  ordinary  affairs  of  life  as  those  in  this 
work,  yet  I  have  deemed  it  proper  to  present  them  to 
the  reader  in  the  form  of  an  appendix. 

It  is  impossible  to  ascertain  the  prominent  characters 
and  instances  of  extraordinary  success  in  life  which 


150 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


have  resulted  from  the  sound  maxims  that  Dr.  Franklin 
published  on  the  margin  of  his  Almanac,  under  the 
sobriquet  of  "Poor  Richard."  I  happen  to  know  that 
the  most  extensive  publishing  house  in  this,  or,  perhaps, 
in  any  country,  was  produced  by  its  elder  partner 
adopting  while  he  was  an  apprentice,  and  practicing 
steadily  afterward,  one  of  the  maxims  of  Poor  Richard. 

He  says,  "As  the  slightest  touch  will  defile  a  clean 
garment,  which  cannot  be  cleaned  again  without  a  great 
deal  of  trouble,  so  the  conversation  of  the  wicked  and 
the  debauched  will  in  a  very  short  time  defile  the  mind 
of  an  innocent  person  in  a  manner  that  will  give  him 
great  trouble  to  recover  his  former  purity.  You  may 
therefore  more  safely  venture  into  company  with  a 
person  infected  writh  the  plague  than  with  a  vicious  man ; 
for  the  worst  consequence  of  the  first  is  death,  but  of 
the  last  the  hazard  of  a  worse  destruction.  For  vicious 
people  generally  have  a  peculiar  ambition  to  draw  in 
the  innocent  to  their  party,  and  many  of  them  are  fur- 
nished with  artifices  and  allurements  but  too  effectual 
for  ensnaring." 

The  advice  to  those  who  are  just  commencing  busi- 
ness for  themselves,  particularly  with  regard  to  the 
strictest  integrity  and  patience,  and  overtrading  and  ex- 
pensive living,  is  exceedingly  judicious.  The  methods 
recommended  in  order  to  penetrate  the  characters  and 
motives  of  those  with  whom  we  have  to  deal  are  just 
and  honorable.  The  following  remark  is  worthy  to  be 
remembered.  It  will  save  us  a  great  deal  of  that  trou- 
ble which  holds  out  no  prospect  of  profit.  "There  are 
six  sorts  of  people  at  whose  hands  you  need  not  expect 
much  kindness :  The  sordid  and  narrow-minded  think 
of  nobody  but  themselves.  The  lazy  will  not  take  the 
trouble  to  serve  you.  The  busy  have  not  time  to  think 
of  you.  The  overgrown  rich  man  is  above  minding  any 
one  that  needs  his  assistance.  The  poor  and  unhappy 
have  neither  spirit  nor  ability.  The  good-natured  fool, 
however  willing,  is  not  capable  of  serving  you." 

The  rules  laid  down  for  conducting  the  affairs  of 
courtship  and  marriage  will  be  read  with  pleasure  and 
profit  even  by  those  who  have  already  entered  prudently 


MEMOIR. 


151 


into  the  marriage  relation.  The  instruction  to  parents 
on  the  proper  management  of  children,  and  advice  with 
respect  to  aiding  their  early  settlement  in  life  are  ex- 
cellent. I  conclude  by  expressing  my  opinion  that  a 
more  suitable  book  could  not  be  placed  in  the  hands  of 
youth  of  both  sexes,  particularly  when  they  are  about 
to  enter  into  the  world  and  assume  at  least  some  of  the 
important  relations  in  society,  and  come  into  contact 
not  only  with  liberal  and  right-minded  persons  and 
favorable  opportunities,  but  also  with  ill-natured  peo- 
ple, untoward  circumstances,  and  eager  competition  in 
business. 

Again,  in  the  introduction  to  Edmondsonh  Short 
Sermons,  he  makes  an  extract  as  most  salutary  counsel 
to  young  men. 

There  is  scarcely  a  condition  in  life  that  will  not  find 
a  sermon  in  this  volume  appropriate  to  it,  in  which  judi- 
cious advice  is  given  to  guide  the  conduct  in  the  case. 
The  two  sermons  to  young  men  are  an  invaluable  treas^- 
ure.  They  are  not  so  much  an  appeal  to  them  on  the 
subject  of  religion  as  a  manual  to  direct  them  in  the 
affairs  of  life.  I  select  two  passages  as  specimens  of  the 
matter  and  manner  of  the  discourses  on  the  various 
conditions  and  duties  of  life.  The  first  is  a  word  to 
young  men  on  going  into  business  ;  the  second,  on  their 
duties  to  their  parents: 

"  Many  young  men  have  entered  on  business  at  the 
wrong  end,  and  have  made  a  figure  in  the  world  with- 
out a  sufficient  capital  to  support  it  ;  but  their  thought- 
less extravagance  has  soon  clashed  them  down  to  the 
lowest  degradation.  They  wTould  be  gentlemen  at  first, 
and,  before  they  knew  on  what  ground  they  stood, 
involved  themselves  in  debt,  robbed  their  creditors, 
disgraced  themselves,  and  in  their  folly  sunk  into 
poverty  and  want.  That  you  may  avoid  these  fatal 
rocks,  '  let  your  moderation  be  known  unto  all  men.' 
Be  attentive  to  business  ;  keep  correct  accounts  ;  deal 
in  good  articles ;  aim  at  a  moderate  and  fair  profit ; 
be  punctual  to  all  your  engagements  ;  be  kind  to  your 


152 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


servants;  live  rather  below  your  income;  and  resolve 
to  be  fair  traders  and  honest  men." 

"  Have  you  parents  ?  Let  them  be  dear  to  you.  Re- 
member who  hath  said,  'Honor  thy  father  and  thy 
mother,  that  thy  days  may  be  long  upon  the  land 
which  the  Lord  thy  God  giveth  thee.'  Obey  them  in 
all  things  lawful,  and  if  they  be  poor  supply  their 
wants.  They  have  done  more  for  you  than  you  can  do 
for  them,  and  the  time  may  come  when  you  may  need 
the  help  of  your  children.  Conceal  as  much  as  possible 
the  faults  of  your  parents;  bear  with  their  growing 
weaknesses  and  infirmities,  and  cheer  their  drooping 
spirits.  He  who  is  unkind  to  his  parents  under  any 
pretense  is  unworthy  of  a  place  in  the  Church  of  God." 

But  in  all  this  work  there  was  proper  care  of  his  pul- 
pit duties.  No  day  was  so  cold  and  no  storm  so  heavy 
as  to  prevent  his  preaching  sermons  that  filled  the 
people  with  rapture.  The  same  wisdom  of  conduct 
and  grace  of  intercourse  that  had  distinguished  him  in 
college  relations  marked  his  intercourse  with  the 
people.  His  plans  were  accepted  as  his  ministry  was 
commended  and  sought.  Having  served  the  Union  the 
full  period  he  was  appointed  to  Trinity  Church  in  Phila- 
delphia. Here  he  sustained  the  same  reputation.  In  the 
outer  world  he  was  known  by  his  eloquence  in  the  pulpit, 
on  the  platform,  and  wherever  he  appeared.  Besides  the 
studies  for  the  improvement  and  better  furnishing  of 
his  own  mind  he  was  in  his  own  house  as  a  professor  to 
his  children,  training  them  in  their  studies  and  giving 
them  the  results  of  his  observation  and  skill.  During 
his  pastorate  in  the  city,  amid  the  pulpits  of  Albert 
Barnes,  Dr.  S.  H.  Tyng,  Dr.  G.  W.  Bethune,  and  of  Dr. 
T.  H.  Stockton  he  was  an  ascendant  attraction. 
Among  such  popular  lecturers  as  Judge  Conrad,  Morton 
McMichael,  and  Joseph  R.  Chandler  he  commanded  the 
most  eminent  place.    His  pastorate  in  Philadelphia  did 


MEMOIR. 


IS: 


not  impair  his  reputation  as  a  man  of  mental  and  theo- 
logical resources,  nor  was  his  eloquence  in  less  repute. 

While  in  this  city  there  was  a  Sabbath  Convention 
held  in  the  Musical  Fund  Hall,  then  the  popular  place 
for  great  assemblies.  The  Convention  was  to  petition 
the  Legislature  for  a  law  in  regard  to  the  sanctity  of 
the  Sabbath.  It  was  a  large  and  intelligent  body  of 
laymen  and  ministers.  Among  those  who  spoke  was 
the  late  Governor  Alexander  Cummings,  at  that  time 
the  editor  of  the  Evening  Bulletin.  His  speech  was 
prompt,  direct,  incisive.    The  Rev.  Thomas  Brainard, 

—  with  his  accustomed  wit  and  brilliancy,  h  id  delivered 
an  address  with  fine  effect.  Rev.  Dr.  G.  W.  Bethune, 
at  the  height  of  his  fame  as  a  pulpit  orator,  had  spoken 
with  an  eloquence  transcending  any  thing  the  writer 
had  ever  heard  from  him.  He  declared  that  he  belonged 
to  a  church  whose  faith  is  that  Christ's  kingdom  is  not 
of  this  world  in  the  means  by  which  it  is  advanced,  that 
her  appeal  is  to  God  and  not  to  legislators.  His  atti- 
tude, gesture,  and  manner,  suggested  George  White- 
field  as  no  other  speaker  had  ever  done.  With  uplifted 
and  extended  arms  he  exclaimed,  "  Christianity  has 
cost  us  mountains  of  wealth,  and  rivers  of  blood,  and 

^  ages  of  suffering,  but  the  repose  of  the  saints  is  in  the 
Saviour  who  is  strong  to  deliver ;  he  still  walks 
in  the  midst  of  the  seven  golden  candlesticks  and  holds 
the  seven  stars  in  his  right  hand."  The  audience  was 
at  fever  heat.  This  was  not  the  time  for  a  like  exhibi- 
tion, but  for  all  the  weight  that  wisdom  gives  to  words. 
Dr.  Dnrbin  rose.  There  was  universal  stillness.  He 
was  calm,  clear,  conciliatory  and  convincing.  There 
was  no  passion  ;  it  was  all  logic.  At  the  close  of  his 
remarks  the  Rev.  Mr.  Longmore,  of  Manayunk,  a  Pres- 
byterian minister  lately  from  Ireland,  full  of  enthusiasm, 
said  :  "I  have  listened  to  the  last  speaker  with  the 


154 


JOUX  P.  BUR  BIX. 


greatest  admiration,  as  I  have  thought  how  forcible  are 
right  words.    How  valuable  is  good  common  sense  !  " 

At  the  end  of  his  pastorate  at  Trinity,  having  been 
in  the  city  four  years,  he  was  compelled  by  the  law  of 
the  Church  at  that  time  to  leave.  In  this  brief  period 
he  had  done  a  work  that  only  eternity  willfully  disclose. 
He  had  brought  many  to  Methodism  who  had  not 
known  its  character,  and  made  an  impression  upon  our 
Church  that  abides. 

He  was  then  appointed  presiding  elder  on  the  Xorth 
Philadelphia  District.  Though  there  but  one  year  it  is 
spoken  of  as  a  period  of  thorough  supervision,  and  as 
furnishing  a  brilliant  episode  in  the  history  of  the  dis- 
trict. The  position  was  not  pleasant  to  him,  but  his 
great  sermons  were  an  untold  power.  One  on  the 
resurrection,  preached  at  the  Attleborough  camp-meet- 
ing, is  still  spoken  of  as  overwhelming  in  its  effects. 

A  short  time  after  his  appointment  he  made  an  offi- 
cial visit  to  Bristol,  Pa.,  and  preached  on  Sabbatli 
morning.  His  congregation  was  very  large.  Among 
those  present  was  the  Rev.  S.  H.  Smith,  now  and  long 
a  member  of  the  New  York  East  Conference,  but  at 
that  time  a  resident  of  Burlington,  N.  J.,  just  across 
the  Delaware  from  Bristol.  Mr.  Smith  says  he  was 
accompanied  by  a  very  intelligent  member  of  Saint 
Mary's  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  Burlington,  then 
under  the  rectorship  of  Bishop  Doane. 

The  preacher  conducted  the  introductory  services  in 
a  very  quiet  manner,  and  then  announced  his  text,  Heb. 
iv,  14-16,  presenting  as  his  theme  the  priesthood  of 
Jesus. 

There  was  nothing  particularly  impressive  in  the 
first  few  sentences  of  his  discourse,  but  soon  he  uttered 
something  which  seemed  slightly  paradoxical,  which  im- 
mediately arrested  the  attention  of  all  hearers.  They 


MEMOIR. 


155 


soon  saw  from  lucid  statements  that  though  at  first  ap 
parently  doubtful  it  was  entirely  legitimate  to  the  sub- 
ject in  hand.  From  that  moment  onward  to  the  close 
.  of  the  sermon  he  not  only  held  the  attention,  but  evi- 
dently enraptured  his  congregation.  The  whole  scene 
of  priestly  offering  and  intercession  as  known  to  the 
Levitical  dispensation  was  so  graphically  depicted,  and 
the  superiority  and  effectiveness  of  Christ's  mediatorial 
office  so  powerfully  shown,  that  every  one  seemed  to 
see  and  feel  that  remission  of  sins  had  been  clearly 
provided  for  in  God's  great  method  of  atonement.  It 
was  interesting  to  watch  the  effect  upon  the  hearers,  as 
seen  from  the  close  attention  given,  and  expression  of 
deepest  interest  upon  every  face.  Mr.  Smith  says  : 
"  The  friend  who  accompanied  me  at  first  seemed  disap- 
pointed, but  soon  he  became  fixed,  and  then  transfixed, 
and  with  the  spell  of  that  marvelous  sermon  upon  him 
declared,  as  he  mingled  with  the  returning  throng,  that 
it  was  the  greatest  religious  discourse  he  ever  heard." 

While  in  Philadelphia  it  was  well  understood  he 
had  a  most  tempting  offer  of  a  pastorate  in  the  city 
from  another  denomination,  when  the  weightiest  argu- 
ments were  brought  to  bear  to  induce  his  acceptance. 
This,  too,  was  at  a  time  when  he  keenly  felt  the  law  that 
compelled  his  removal  from  the  pastorate  of  the  Meth- 
odist church  after  a  service  of  four  consecutive  years  in 
the  city.  Besides,  he  was  filling  the  presiding  elder's 
office,  which  was  one  that  he  did  not  desire. 


156 


JOHX  P.  DURB1X. 


CHAPTER  XI. 
The  Missionary  Secretaryship. 

IX  1850,  on  the  failure  of  the  health  of  Dr.  Pitman, 
Secretary  of  the  Missionary  Society,  the  Bishops 
unanimously  called  Dr.  Durbin  to  fill  the  vacancy. 

The  General  Conference  of  1852  elected  him  to  this 
office,  and  successive  General  Conferences  continued 
him  there  till  1872,  when  bodily  infirmities  induced  his 
resignation.  To  this  position  Dr.  Durbin  came  in  his 
physical  vigor,  his  mental  strength,  and  in  the  full 
knowledge  and  discipline  of  all  his  powers.  His  execu- 
tive ability,  superior  judgment  of  men,  as  well  as  his 
remarkable  eloquence,  commended  him  to  the  Church  as 
a  most  suitable  person  for  this  high  office.  By  travel 
in  foreign  lands  he  had  added  to  his  intellectual  re- 
sources and  become  familiar  with  the  moral  wants  of 
the  world.  The  place  was  most  congenial  to  his  tastes. 
He  entered  upon  his  work  with  the  force  of  conviction 
and  the  inspiration  of  hope.  He  formed  his  plans, 
adopted  his  policy,  and  as  far  as  possible  reduced  every 
thing  to  system.  He  called  to  his  support  competent 
men,  and  exercised  a  supervision  at  once  general  and 
minute.  His  alertness  was  equal  to  any  exigency. 
His  oversight  often  seemed  like  prescience.  He  im- 
pressed pastors  wTith  the  obligation  of  enlightening  and 
inspiring  our  people.  For  this  he  urged  monthly  mis- 
sionary concerts  for  prayer  and  the  diffusion  of  appro- 
priate literature.  He  insisted  that  with  such  zeal  and 
effort  the  people  would  be  educated  to  giving.  He 


MEMOIR. 


157 


guarded  against  spasmodic  action  as  sure  to  react.  He 
discouraged  collections  at  the  Annual  Conferences,  ex- 
horting the  preachers  to  give  with  their  people,  that 
their  charges  might  have  both  the  inspiration  and 
credit  of  their  offerings.  lie  assured  the  pastors  that 
he  reposed  more  upon  their  skill  than  upon  his  own 
efforts.  He  organized  auxiliary  societies  and  directed 
contributions  to  the  proper  treasury. 

In  the  public  anniversaries  he  made  it  a  study  to  put 
the  greatest  amount  of  matter  in  the  smallest  space  and 
to  render  it  the  most  vital.  The  addresses  on  these  oc- 
casions were  such  as  gave  the  broadest  views  and 
the  brightest  prospect.  They  increased  liberality  and 
awoke  a  higher  ambition.  Who  that  was  present  on 
the  occasion  can  ever  forget  the  anniversary  at  Stein  way 
Hall,  when  Bishop  Thomson,  on  his  return  from  abroad, 
delivered  his  mighty  address  on  India?  Did  we  ever 
so  see  the  country  and  its  peoples  ?  Did  we  ever  so  see 
the  learning  we  have  to  meet,  the  logical  skill  and 
powerful  prejudice  we  have  to  encounter?  He  studied 
every  question  of  the  foreign  work  in  its  relation  to 
country,  government,  and  race.  He  considered  the  ob- 
stacles and  inducements  to  missionary  service.  With 
the  statesman  he  was  the  statesman  ecclesiastic,  wisely 
presenting  the  condition,  showing  the  triumphs,  and 
securing  the  protection  that  the  comity  of  nations 
demands.  In  the  monthly  meetings  of  the  board  of 
managers,  and  in  the  committees  on  various  mission 
fields,  he  showed  his  perfect  grasp  of  all  detail  and 
knowledge  of  the  cases  to  be  considered.  Himself  the 
center  of  intelligence,  he  threw  light  on  every  subject. 
His  reports  to  the  board  were  so  clear  and  just  as  to 
allow  little  discussion,  as  they  carried  with  them  the 
force  of  a  logical  statement  and  of  an  inevitable  con- 
clusion.    In  the  board  were  business  men  and  minis- 


158 


JOHX  P.  DURBIX. 


ters  accustomed  to  independent  thought  and  expres- 
sion ;  but  it  was  difficult  to  make  an  issue  with  the  sec- 
retary. He  had  discernment,  foresight,  address  with- 
out cunning  ;  and  if  he  managed  men  it  was  not  because 
he  was  a  manager.  If  the  world  ever  saw  greater  har- 
mony than  pervaded  that  board,  the  writer  has  not 
lived  long  enough  or  gone  far  enough  to  see  it.  But 
who  can  tell  his  service  to  the  Church  in  his  keen  dis- 
crimination of  character,  his  ready  perception  of  the 
qualification  of  candidates  for  the  diverse  fields,  the 
education  demanded,  the  abilities  possessed,  the  grace 
enjoyed,  and  the  subjection  to  discipline  required.  His 
correspondence  with  them  in  the  work,  his  recognition 
of  their  cares,  his  estimate  of  their  difficulties,  his  gen- 
erous judgment  of  their  mistakes,  the  sympathy  he  ex- 
pressed in  their  sorrows,  his  words  of  cheer  in  their  suc- 
cesses, and  his  perpetual  anxiety  to  succor  and  strengthen 
them  are  beyond  the  power  of  words,  while  loyalty  to 
the  interest  that  he  was  to  guard  and  direct  Compelled 
a  strictness  that  is  the  offspring  of  inflexible  integrity. 

With  a  heart  so  full  of  the  cause  it  was  natural  that 
he  should  wish  to  visit  the  missions,  that  he  might  bet- 
ter understand  their  needs.  The  society  approved  his 
proposition.  He  went  and  made  such  observation  and 
reached  such  conclusions  as  were  of  permanent  profit. 
He  lived,  he  wrrote,  he  gave  addresses,  preached  ser- 
mons, and  kindled  his  own  ardors  in  hearts  as  cold  as 
icebergs.  Parsimony  unlocked  its  coffers,  and  mines  of 
unknown  wealth  were  discovered.  Many  a  saint  near- 
ing  the  celestial  city  remembered  in  his  will  the  cause 
that  would  "bring  many  sons  unto  glory."  Churches 
felt  their  dignity  increased  by  the  munificence  of  their 
offerings,  and  the  Philadelphia  Conference,  of  which  he 
was  a  member,  was  and  continues  to  be  in  its  collections 
the  banner  Conference. 


MEMOIR. 


150 


What  character,  what  church,  what  Conference  could 
be  cold  when  he  showed  the  "signs  of  the  times?" 
Will  the  spectacle  ever  vanish  ?  Will  the  reasons  ever 
cease  to  operate  '?  TJnder  his  administration  the  "  Wom- 
an's Foreign  Missionary  Society  "  was  organized,  and 
received  his  sanction  and  support.  When  Dr.  Durbin 
became  Missionary  Secretary  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church  had  but  two  small  foreign  missions:  one  in 
South  America,  one  in  Liberia;  one  just  being  formed 
in  China.  Under  him  its  missions  were  extended  in 
China,  into  India,  Germany,  Switzerland,  Sweden,  Nor- 
way, Denmark,  and  Bulgaria.  When  he  took  his  place 
as  secretary  the  receipts  of  the  society  were  one  hun- 
dred thousand  dollars  per  year;  but  before  he  retired 
they  amounted  to  seven  hundred  thousand  dollars  a 
year. 

In  1866,  the  centennial  year  of  American  Methodism, 
appropriations  were  made  on  the  basis  of  one  million  for 
the  missionary  cause.  Within  the  last  year  a  million  dol- 
lars has  been  raised.  To  this  sublime  work  Dr.  Durbin 
gave  twenty-two  of  the  best  years  of  his  life.  If  ever  his 
unreserved  powers  were  given  to  an  interest  they  were 
to  this.  When,  in  1852,  much  was  said  about  making 
him  Bishop,  he  expressed  his  conviction  that  he  had  a 
work  of  superior  claim  on  his  energies,  and  one  that  he 
preferred. 

The  following  is  from  the  pen  of  the  late  Bishop 
Wiley  when  editor  of  the  Ladks*  Repository,  January, 
1872: 

Dr.  Durbin  cannot  be  called  the  father  of  Method- 
ist Missions,  for  our  society  had  a  history  of  thirty 
years  before  he  came  to  its  head;  yet  in  very  important 
senses  he  is  the  creator  of  the  society  in  its  present 
form  and  magnitude,  and  deserves  and  will  receive 
the  undying  gratitude  of  the  Church  as  the  chief  in- 


160 


JOHN  P.  LURB1X. 


strument  in  the  wonderful  development  of  our  mission- 
ary work  during  the  past  score  of  years. 

In  1850,  when  Dr.  Durbin  entered  the  office  as  sec- 
retary, the  missionary  appropriation  was  8100,000.  Of 
this  sum  823,400  were  appropriated  to  "  domestic  mis- 
sions," 838,300  to  "  foreign  populations  in  our  own  coun- 
try," 837,300  to  "  foreign  missions."  Our  only  foreign 
missions  were  Africa,  China,  and  South  America.  The 
African  Mission  was  a  pet,  and  received  821,000.  South 
America  took  care  of  itself,  the  missionary  being  sup- 
ported by  American  and  English  residents.  The  China 
Mission  was  in  its  infancy,  having  just  secured  its  loca- 
tion at  Foochow,  and  receiving  an  appropriation  of 
87,000.  California  and  Oregon  were  reckoned,  in  some 
sense,  foreign  missions,  two  missionaries  having  just 
been  sent  to  the  former  and  seven  operating  in  Oregon. 
The  collection  for  the  preceding  year  was  8106,196  09, 
being  an  average  of  16^  per  member.  From  that 
time  to  the  present  there  has  been  a  steady  increase  in 
appropriations  and  receipts,  except  a  seeming  decrease 
since  1865  and  1866.  The  highest  point  reached  in 
these  appropriations  was  81,000,000  for  1866.  The 
highest  point  reached  in  receipts  was  in  the  same  year 
8671,090  66,  being  an  average  of  77  cents  per  member. 

In  accepting  this  post  Dr.  Durbin  knew  the  care  it 
would  cost,  the  wisdom  that  it  would  require,  the  labor 
that  must  be  performed.  He  could  conceive  the  solici- 
tude that  the  demands  of  the  work  and  the  needs  of 
the  treasury  might  compel.  He  knew  that  to  him  the 
Church  would  look  as  inspiration  to  men,  as  argument 
for  increased  liberality,  as  judgment  for  foreign  fields. 
He  was  not  unmindful  of  the  wear  that  would  be  upon 
body  and  mind.  He  knew  that  Conferences  would  ex- 
pect his  presence  and  ask  his  knowledge,  and  individ- 
uals might  tax  his  faith  and  try  his  patience. 

But  no  knowledge  of  facts,  however  weighty  and 
difficult,  kept  him  from  a  proper  study  of  his  duty  and 
the  acceptance  of  what  the  Church  imposed. 


MEMOIR. 


IGl 


When  the  Rev.  Elias  Cornelius,  D.D.,  was  appointed 
Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  American  Board  of 
Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions  he  said,  in  writing 
to  a  friend  some  weeks  after  his  election,  "  Hitherto  I 
have  felt  more  like  praying  than  either  writing  or  con- 
versing. The  most  I  can  or  dare  say  at  present  is,  and 
that  with  my  eyes  turned  to  Heaven,  and  death  and  the 
judgment  before  me,  I  am  trying  to  ask,  'Lord,  what 
wilt  thou  have  me  to  do  ? '  Next  I  desire  to  have  my 
ears  open  to  every  thing  which  is  likely  to  make  known 
his  will.  ...  I  beg  you  to  remember  me  in  your 
prayers." 

Thus  felt  the  man  of  God  when  contemplating  the 
duties  that  his  position  involved.  Dr.  D'urbin  had  as 
full  a  realization  of  his  responsibility  when  he  became 
the  "  Corresponding  Secretary  of  the  Missionary  Society 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church."  But  he  loved 
the  cause,  and  he  welcomed  the  work  when  he  saw  the 
"  finger  of  God."  He  was  converted  about  the  time 
that  our  Missionary  Society  was  organized.  In  his 
early  ministry  he  was  permitted  to  see  this  work 
among  the  Indians  in  the  West,  and  it  was  his  delight 
to  narrate  the  conversion  of  John  Steward,  a  colored 
man,  who  had  some  experience  among  the  Indians  in 
what  was  then  the  far  West;  of  his  remarkable  solici- 
tude for  the  red  men  of  the  forest;  of  his  determina- 
tion to  go  among  them  and  tell  them  of  the  Saviour 
that  he  had  found  ;  and  how  God  honored  the  labors  of 
this  earnest  laborer  in  one  of  our  first  mission  fields,  in 
the  days  when  James  B.  Finley,  by  his  devotion  to  their 
good,  was  honored  by  being  made  a  "  chief."  The  cases 
of  Jason  Lee,  of  Joshua  Spaulding,  the  condition  of  the 
"Flat  Head  Indians',"  and  of  the  anxious  inquiry-about 
the  work  of  the  Great  Spirit — these  men  and  facts  had 
taken  hold  of  his  heart  and  produced  and  deepened 
12 


162 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


sympathy.  Such  also  was  the  case  with  regard  to 
Melville  B.  Cox  and  his  African  work. 

He  saw  the  world,  lying  in  wickedness.  He  saw  mill- 
ions of  his  race  "  without  God  and  without  hope  in 
the  world."  He  saw  peoples  of  every  color  and  clime 
bowing  down  to  gods  of  wood  and  stone.  In  human 
souls  he  saw  no  discriminating  hues  excepting  those 
that  are  moral.  He  knew  the  Gospel  would  save  them. 
The  Methodist  Church  had  it  in  its  power  to  send  it. 
For  this  it  had  organized  the  Missionary  Society,  and 
he  believed  that  what  might  not  be  accomplished  by 
individuals  could  be  effected  by  the  combined  effort  of 
many.  He  knew  that  the  voluntary  association  of  good 
men  for  advancing  the  kingdom  of  Christ  could  accom- 
plish wonders.  He  believed  that  there  is  no  object  to 
which  this  power  cannot  adapt  itself,  no  resources  which 
it  may  not  ultimately  command,  and  "  that  a  few  indi- 
viduals, if  the  public  mind  be  gradually  prepared  to 
favor  them,  can  lay  the  foundations  of  undertakings 
which  would  have  baffled  the  might  of  those  who  reared 
the  Pyramids."  Has  not  this  bold  statement  been  jus- 
tified in  the  cause  of  missions? 

Early  in  the  history  of  our  missionary  efforts  as  a 
Church  Rev.  Stephen  G.  Roszel,  of  the  Baltimore  Con- 
ference, a  man  of  exalted  character  and  of  strong  faith, 
had  the  holy  daring  to  predict  that  the  day  would  yet 
dawn  when  his  Conference  would  raise  as  much  as 
*  1.000  a  year  !  Let  us  not  be  severe  on  his  judgment  : 
it  was  a  day  of  small  things. 

Of  John  P.  Durbin  we  may  say  the  cause  of  mis- 
sions commanded  his  confidence,  inspired  his  hero- 
ism, and  furnished  a  basis  of  the  highest  and  holiest 
hope. 

When  the  Macedonian  cry  fell  on  his  ear,  "  Come  over 
and  help  us,"  his  response  was,  "  I  am  a.  debtor  both  to 


MEMOIR. 


the  Greeks  and  to  the  Barbarians,  both  to  the  wise  and 
to  the  unwise." 

His  faith  saw  the  sword  converted  into  a  plowshare 
and  the  spear  into  a  pruning  hook  ;  saw  idols  going  to 
the  moles  and  to  the  bats;  saw  the  "  wilderness  and 
the  solitary  place  "  becoming  glad,  and  the  desert  blos- 
soming "  as  the  rose." 

Such  thoughts,  such  faith,  such  appeal,  made  him 
willing,  anxious,  to  give  his  powers  to  this  department 
of  the  Church's  service.  Study  had  trained  him,  edu- 
cation had  honored  him,  the  pastorate  had  roused  his 
moral  as  well  as  intellectual  powers  :  the  editorship  in 
the  Church  had  given  him  a  wide  view  of  the  world's 
want,  and  now  the  missionary  cause  absorbed  him. 

Others  might  be  discouraged ;  he  borrowed  faith 
from  emergency.  While  others  stood  still  and  specu- 
lated he  went  forward  and  demonstrated.  Pressure  did 
not  crush  him,  for  love  was  mighty  in  his  support.  To 
him  every  cloud  had  its  "  silver  lining,"  and  when  the 
sun  of  the  hopes  of  others  was  going  down  his  rose 
full  orbed  on  the  moral  horizon — the  clouds  gave  way, 
and  the  sun  tinged  what  he  touched.  The  deep  silence 
or  stirring  statement  of  an  empty  treasury  made  him 
ring  out  as  the  battle-cry,  "  Can  ye  not  discern  the  signs 
of  the  times  ?  "  Who  can  tell  the  value  of  such  a  man? 
What  a  spirit  did  he  inspire  !  What  self-abnegation  did 
he  induce  !    What  possibilities  did  he  make  manifest ! 

When  he  resigned  his  place  as  Corresponding  Secre- 
tary of  the  Missionary  Society,  the  General  Conference, 
in  appreciation  of  his  services  and  to  retain  his  coun- 
sel, elected  him  Honorary  Secretary  of  the  Missionary 
Society.  Then  he,  whose  life  had  been  so  full  of  labor 
and  whose  labor  had  been  so  full  of  grand  results, 
withdrew  from  the  active  services  that  had  been  his 
delight.  ^ 


164 


JOHN  P.  DURB1X. 


It  is  reported  of  Queen  Mary,  when  about  to  die, 
that  she  said,  "  If  her  body  was  opened  '  Calais '  would 
be  found  written  on  her  heart."  If  mind  could  so  im- 
print itself  on  matter,  and  the  affections  show  themselves 
on  human  tissues,  the  examination  of  the  heart  of  this 
great  Secretary  would  show  "  The  Missionary  Society 
of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church."  The  writer  has 
not  been  accustomed  to  think  that  a  human  intellect 
wears  out  by  use  ;  but  if  he  has  ever  been  tempted  to 
this,  it  is  in  the  case  of  John  P.  Durbin. 


ME  MOW. 


105 


CHAPTER  XII. 
Sermons  on  Special  Occasions. 

NO  thoughtful  person  knowing  the  diverse  and 
responsible  positions  which  J.  P.  Durbin  filled  for 
so  long  a  period  with  so  much  success  can  doubt  that, 
irrespective  of  his  pre-eminence  as  a  speaker,  he  was  a 
man  of  remarkable  endowments  and  skill ;  for  fifty 
years  the  name  of  John  P.  Durbin  was  before  the 
country  as  a  synonym  of  inimitable  eloquence. 

Though  the  writer  may  not  literally  reproduce  the 
great  sermons  that  Dr.  Durbin  delivered  allusion  is 
allowed  to  some  of  those  discourses  that  will  never  die 
in  the  memory  of  those  who  heard  them. 

We  have  seen  that  wrhile  Dr.  Durbin  was  pastor  in 
Philadelphia  his  themes  had  adaptation,  and  that  there 
were  variety  and  popular  power.  For  these  his  method 
of  preparation  was  uniform.  But  his  sermons  on 
special  occasions,  in  subject  and  treatment,  respected 
the  facts  before  him.  For  any  thing  else  he  seemed 
not  to  have  the  slightest  concern.  He  would  preach 
from  the  same  text  any  number  of  times  or  in  different 
places  though  near  together.  The  writer  heard  him 
preach  at  the  seat  of  the  Conference  in  Eastern  Mary- 
land in  1848  from  the  text  :  "I  have  written  unto  you, 
young  men,  because  ye  are  strong,  and  the  word  of 
God  abideth  in  you,  and  ye  have  overcome  the  wicked 
one."  The  Sabbath  before  he  preached  it  in  Balti- 
more. Easton  was  just  across  the  Chesapeake  Bay. 
He  was  not  deterred  by  the  fact  that  Dr.  Bond  and 


160 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


others  from  Baltimore  had  heard  it.  At  the  dedica- 
tion of  the  church  at  Cambridge  that  week  he  took  "  I 
have  written  unto  you,  young  men.''  There  may  have 
been  a  score  of  people  at  Cambridge  that  heard  him  on 
both  the  former  occasions.  He  knew  the  advantage  of 
having  a  sermon  fully  at  his  command.  Dr.  Southey 
commended  Whitefield  in  his  habit  of  often  preaching 
the  same  subjects,  because  he  could  thus  learn  the  points 
of  power — what  to  leave  off,  how  to  add,  or  to  modify. 
Dr.  Franklin  said  he  could  tell  wrhen  Whitefield  had  a 
new  subject  by  its  lack  of  maturity.  No  one  could  tell 
how  often  Dr.  Durbin  preached  from  his  chosen  themes. 
Frequent  preaching  from  the  same  text  was  one  of  the 
advantages  of  our  fathers  when  they  traveled  circuits 
or  filled  the  office  of  presiding  elder.  Dr.  Durbin  once 
said  in  the  Preachers'  Meeting  of  Philadelphia,  "  I  am 
like  the  old  Roman,  I  never  throw  away  a  sword 
while  it  will  cut."    If  rusty,  he  rubbed  it  up. 

Balaam. 

Among  the  interesting  and  impressive  biographical 
sermons  that  Dr.  Durbin  preached  while  pastor  of  the 
Union  was  one  on  Bnlaam.  A  friend  has  told  the 
writer  that  when  he  announced  his  text  "tears  wTere 
in  his  eyes."  It'  the  history  of  the  subject  gave  him 
such  pathos  at  the  start  we  might  naturally  suppose 
the  sermon  would  not  be  wanting  in  emotion.  It  was 
not.  It  was  as  if  the  heart  of  the  preacher  ached  in 
the  contemplation  of  such  a  false  character,  a  man  of 
such  contradictions  in  himself :  a  man  of  such  exalted 
conceptions  of  God  and  such  sublime  utterances  of  this 
power  and  grace,  of  such  knowledge  as  suggested  the 
true  prophet,  and  yet  with  a  conduct  to  show  how  per- 
fectly a  strong  man  may  be  lured  by  love  of  lucre  ;  and 
in  the  face  of  the  most  instructive  facts  in  the  history 


MEMOIR. 


167 


of  God's  people  daring  to  desire  their  defeat  and  rep- 
robation, yet  uttering  language  that  would  indicate  di- 
vine inspiration;  cherishing  desires  to  die  the  death  of 
the  righteous,  and  willing,  if  he  might  be  permitted,  even 
to  curse  the  people  of  God.  When  once  refused,  again 
applying,  and  after  such  answer  as  allowed  to  his  mind 
the  liberty  that  he  sought,  hasting  to  the  house  of  the 
messengers  of  the  king  to  inform  them  of  the  gratify- 
ing answer  given.  Arriving  at  the  place  Dr.  Durbin 
represents  Balaam  as  eagerly  rapping  at  the  door,  and, 
"  suiting  the  action  to  the  word,"  with  the  dramatic 
] >ower  that  he  possessed,  made  three  raps  upon  the 
pulpit  that  sounded  as  if  eternity  was  making  its 
terrific  charges  upon  the  ears  of  guilt. 

We  may  not  now  give  the  moral  word-painting  of 
Dr.  Durbin.  Word-painting,  was  it?  Did  he  not  rather 
sculpture  character?  If  in  ordinary  thought  he  pre- 
sented the  tiling  can  we  wonder  that  this  strange  com- 
pound of  good  and  evil,  of  prophecy  and  profanation, 
of  orthodox  faith  and  heterodox  practice— two  men 
in  one,  two  natures  struggling  one  against  the  other — 
which  Balaam  presented,  should  command  his  great 
power  in  the  delineation  of  character  ?  Shall  we  say 
that  he  was 

"  To  hell  and  heaven  equal  bent, 
While  both  a  devil  and  a  saint  ?  " 

For  lucid  exhibition,  for  forcible  reasoning,  for 
analysis  of  human  nature,  for  profound  pathos,  for 
stirring  appeal,  for  facts  to  induce  moral  introspection, 
the  writer  must  not  be  expected  to  give  a  just  im- 
pression. 

Naaman. 

Dr.  Durbin  had  a  sermon  of  great  eloquence  upon 
Naaman.    In  this  was  the  best  exhibition  of  the  beauty 


168 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


and  force  of  his  familiar  style,  a  power  to  any  one 
who  understands  its  use. 

Lord  Brougham,  writing  of  Bushe,  said  :  "His  merit 
as  a  speaker  was  of  the  highest  order,  and  his  power  of 
narrative  has  not  perhaps  been  equaled."  He  assumes 
that  the  narrative  of  Livy  himself  does  not  surpass 
in  the  great  effect  of  his  orator.  He  names  perfect 
simplicity,  but  mingled  with  elegance  ;  a  lucid  arrange- 
ment and  unbroken  connection  of  all  the  facts  and 
constant  introduction  of  the  most  picturesque  expres- 
sions, but  never  as  ornaments.  These,  the  great  quali- 
ties of  narrative,  accomplish  its  end  and  purpose.  They 
place  the  story  and  the  scene  before  the  hearer  and  the 
reader  as  if  he  had  witnessed  the  reality. 

Dr.  Durbin's  vividness  in  moral  word-painting  was 
one  of  the  most  striking  features  in  the  composition  of 
this  sermon.  Narrative  had  large  place.  Who  has 
not  seen  this  in  Dr.  Durbin  ?  Was  it  not  this  that  gave 
such  effect  to  his  statements  of  the  claim,  condition  and 
prospects  of  the  missionary  cause  ?  Perhaps  there  was 
no  power  that  Dr.  Durbin  possessed  of  which  he  was  so 
conscious  as  this.  While  commending  narrative  in 
preaching,  on  one  occasion  in  the  Philadelphia  Preach- 
ers' Meeting,  he  said:  "This  ability  I  owe  to  my 
mother's  habit  of  telling  me  stories  when  I  was  a  small 
boy.  I  would  lie  on  the  floor  as  she  walked  to  and  fro 
drawing  out  her  yarn  with  a  large  spinning-wheel,  so 
common  in  those  days,  and  she  would  tell  me  some 
story  and  fill  me  with  delight,  and,  looking  up  from  the 
floor  into  her  face,  I  would  say,  'Mother,  tell  me 
more.'  And  more  she  gave."  Dear  mother  and  woman 
of  God  !  how  little  did  she  think  when  spinning  yarn 
for  the  clothing  of  her  household  and  telling  stories  to 
amuse  her  son  that  she  wns  imparting  a  taste  for  narrative 
that  would  cause  him  to  thrill  vast  congregations ;  that 


MEMOIR. 


169 


she  was  teaching  him  to  weave  a  net  to  catch  the  ear 
and  win  the  heart  of  many  a  sinner  !  fy 

In  his  serjnon  on  Naaman  Dr.  Durbin  showed  his 
homiletic^kill  in  the  use  of  the  facts  of  Scripture  history 
and  his  ability  to  derive  from  them,  and  present  to  thef^yt&U 
congregation,  lessons  of  profoundest  wisdom,  and  to  , 
render  practical,  in  the  highest  sense,  portions  of  the^Jv*^^ 
word  which,  though  familiar,  are  rarely  seen  in  their  ^  /{t 
deep  moral  significance. 

Pride  was  made  odious,  and  human  power  unavail- 
able to  the  great  necessity  of  human  salvation.  The 
altar  of  God  on  the  camp-ground  or  in  the  church,  the 
bread  and  wine  at  the  Lord's  Supper,  were  seen  to  have 
a  claim  that  had  been  denied  them,  even  as  the  Jordan 
was  a  means  that  Abana  and  Pharpar  could  not  reach. 
Now,  in  the  full  swell  and  sweep  of  his  voice,  he  would 
urge  the  dying  sinner  to  forget  all  but  his  disease  and 
God's  cure,  and  to  believe,  after  all  our  reasoning,  that 
God  is  wiser  than  man,  and  with  an  earnestness  that 
only  the  peril  of  the  sinner  justified  he  urged  the  spir- 
itual lepers  to  come  to  the  "  fountain  opened  in  the 
house  of  David  for  sin  and  uncleanness,"  and  so  have 
a  new  nature.  In  the  Hebrew  maid  he  saw  the  mis- 
sionary for  Christ.  All  Christians  were  to  show  what 
they  could  do  in  any  sphere  where  Providence  places 
them.  Thus  the  sermon  was  practical  in  the  highest 
sense. 

Dedication  of  Trinity. 
In  the  use  of  choice  literature  Dr.  Durbin  did  as  he 
advised  others  to  do.  The  climax  of  his  sermon  at  the 
dedication  of  "Trinity,"  Philadelphia,  in  1841,  was  in  a 
quotation.  The  service  was  on  a  week-day.  It  is 
doubtful  whether  we  ever  had  such  a  congregation  as 
at  this  time.  Men  of  all  professions  were  there.  Min- 
isters of  various  churches  were  present  in  great  numbers. 


170 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


When  the  preacher  had  so  far  shown  the  sins  of  men 
and  the  word  of  grace — when  the  audience  had  hung  on 
his  words  though  in  profound  silence — he  gave  vent 
to  the  strongest  emotion  and  the  most  burning  passion 
in  what  the  writer  regarded  as  familiar  language  from 

Cowper  : 

"  0 !  for  a  lodge  in  some  vaf-t  wilderness, 

Some  boundless  contiguity  of  shade, 

Where  rumor  of  oppression  and  deceit, 

Of  unsuccessful  or  successful  war, 

Mignt  never  reach  me  more.    My  ear  is  pained, 

My  soul  is  sick,  with  every  day's  report 

Of  wrong  and  outrage  with  which  earth  is  filled.'1 

It  is  impossible  to  tell  the  power  of  that  passage, 
unless  it  was  heard  from  Durbin's  lips  and  with  his  im- 
pulse and  emotion.  When  he  laid  his  emphasis  on  "  my 
ear  is  pained"  we  felt  disgusted  at  wickedness.  When 
he  pronounced  "  wrong  and  outrage  "  we  knew  not  how 
to  meet  the  enormity.  With  the  first  it  was  as  if  a 
shingle  started;  when  he  uttered  "  outrage "  as  if  the 
roof  rose.  It  was  as  if  a  stone  spoke  out  of  the  wall 
and  a  beam  out  of  the  timber  answered  it — as  if 
material  things  were  shocked  at  such  unexampled  sin  ; 
as  if  the  very  temple  became  vocal  with  accusations  and 
filled  with  revolt,  while  virtuous  Xature  sought  sanct- 
uary from  sin  in  the  lodge  of  "some  vast  wilderness," 
in  "boundless  contiguity  of  shade."  Beside  the  writer 
sat  Dr.  George  B.  Ide,  the  brilliant  preacher  of  the  First 
Baptist  Church.  He  said,  as  we  separated,  "parts  were 
inimitable."  We  had  often  heard  that  poetry  quoted, 
never  before  rendered.  It  was  not  the  quotation  ;  it 
was  not  the  words,  but  Durbin  in  them. 

Resurrection. 
Conception  can  hardly  transcend  the  influence  of  his 
quotation  from  Dr.  Young  when  preaching  on  the 


MEMOIR. 


Ill 


"  Resurrection  of  Christ."  The  didactic  and  expository 
had  had  their  place,  reasoning*  had  exerted  its  greatest 
power,  and  for  a  time  logic  seemed  to  predominate  in 
the  discourse  ;  but  when  the  moment  came  to  be 
relieved  from  severe  mental  process — when  the  proof 
presented  had  accomplished  its  end,  the  soul  took 
wings  and  mounted  from  the  earth  and  seemed  sub- 
limed by  the  subject.  The  fact  made  its  full  appeal  ; 
some  wept,  others  shouted ;  all  were  absorbed.  Then 
in  the  fullness  of  a  triumph  never  more  manifest  in  any 
moral  demonstration,  he  exclaimed  : 

"  And  did  lie  rise? 
Hear,  0  ye  nations,  hear  it,  0  ye  dead! 
He  rose  !  he  rose !  he  burst  the  bars  of  death. 
Lift  up  your  heads,  ye  everlasting  gates  1 
And  give  the  King  of  glory  to  come  in. 
Who  is  the  King  of  glory  ?  He  who  left 
His  throne  of  glory  for  the  pangs  of  death. 
Lift  up  your  heads,  ye  everlasting  gates ! 
And  give  the  king  of  glory  to  come  in. 
Who  is  the  King  of  glory  ?  He  who  slew 
The  ravenous  foe  that  gorged  all  human  race. 
The  King  of  glory  He,  whose  glory  filled 
Heaven  with  amazement  at  his  love  to  man, 
And  with  divine  complacency  beheld 
Powers  most  illumined 'wilder'd  in  the  theme. 

The  theme,  the  joy,  how  then  shall  man  sustain? 

O  the  burst  gates  !  crushed  sting !  demolished  throne  I 

Last  gasp  of  vanquished  death  !  shout,  earth  and  heaven, 

This  sum  of  good  to  man,  whose  nature  then 

Took  wing  and  mounted  with  him  from  the  tomb. 

Then,  then  I  rose!  Then  first  humanity 

Triumphant  passed  the  crystal  ports  of  light 

(Stupendous  guest)  and  seized  eternal  youth. 

Seized  in  our  name.    E'er  since  'tis  blasphemous 

To  call  man  mortal.    Marts  mortality 

Was  then  trans/erred  to  death;  and  Heaven's  duration 


172 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


Unalienably  pealed  to  this  frail  frame, 
This  child  of  dust!    Man,  all  immortal,  hail! 
Hail!  Heaven,  all  lavish  of  strange  gifts  to  man, 
Tldrie  all  the  glory,  man's  the  boundless  bliss." 

No  one  can  wonder  that  the  sermon  at  the  Attle- 
borough  camp-meeting  that  contained  this  passage  is 
remembered  and  spoken  of  as  one  of  such  stupendous 
power.  He  had  no  need  to  go  to  others  for  either 
elegance,  elevation,  or  eloquence ;  but  he  did  it  to  sup- 
port the  grand  truths  that  he  presented. 

Bascom  with  Coleridge's  Lay  Sermon. 

The  passage  that  we  have  heard  quoted  from  Bascom 
more  than  any  other  is  from  S.  T.  Coleridge.  Speaking 
of  Christianity  he  asks,  "But  whence  did  this  happy 
organization  first  come?  Was  it  a  tree  transplanted 
from  Paradise,  with  all  its  branches  in  full  fruitage? 
Or  was  it  sowed  in  sunshine  ?  Was  it  in  vernal  breezes 
and  gentle  rains  that  it  fixed  its  roots  and  grew  and 
strengthened  ?  Let  history  answer  these  questions ! 
With  blood  was  it  planted  ;  it  was  rocked  in  tempests  ; 
the  goat,  the  ass  and  the  stag  gnawed  it  ;  the  wild 
boar  has  whetted  his  tnsk  on  its  bark.  The  deep  scars  are 
still  extant  on  its  trunk,  and  the  path  of  the  lightning 
may  be  traced  among  its  higher  branches.  And  even 
after  its  full  growth,  in  the  season  of  its  strength,  when 
its  height  reached  to  the  heaven  and  the  sight  thereof 
to  all  the  earth,  the  whirlwind  has  more  than  once 
forced  its  stately  top  to  touch  the  ground  :  it  has  been 
bent  like  a  bow,  and  sprang  back  like  a  shaft." 

The  readiness  of  Dr.  Durbin  to  utilize  important 
material  in  a  way  consistent  with  high  intellectual 
capacity  extended,  in  one  case,  certainly,  even  to  the 
plan  of  a  sermon.    In  The  Christian  Advocate  of  No- 


MEMOIR. 


173 


vember  13,  1884,  there  is  a  very  copious  outline  of  a 
sermon  on  the  text,  llosea  ii,  8,  9,  "  For  she  did  not 
know  that  I  gave  her  corn,  and  wine,  and  oil,  and  mul- 
tiplied her  silver  and  gold,  which  they  prepared  for 
Baal.  Therefore  will  I  return,  and  take  away  my  corn 
in  the  time  thereof,  and  my  wine  in  the  season  thereof, 
and  will  recover  my  wool  and  my  flax,  given  to  cover 
her  nakedness."  No  one  on  reading  Jay's  sermon  and 
Durbin's  sketch  can  deny  the  close  conformity,  and 
there  is  no  doubt  that  the  outline  was  derived  from  Jay. 
But  even  in  the  three  main  propositions  there  is  a  verbal 
and  real  difference.  The  themes  are  different.  The  in- 
troduction of  Dr.  Durbin  as  given,  no  doubt  about  its 
full  length  as  preached,  is  entirely  unlike  that  of  Mr. 
Jay.  Then,  in  the  progress  of  thought,  it  is  seen  how 
Durbin  extended,  illustrated,  and  impressed  truth  in  his 
own  way.  Besides  these  differences  in  the  most  weighty 
part  of  the  discourse  which  the  Doctor  presents  as  the 
peroration,  we  have  the  following  points  not  recognized 
in  Jay : 

1st.  Let  us  be  continually  impressed  with  the  con- 
stant agency  of  God  in  all  our  affairs. 

2d.  Let  us  make  all  our  plans  conform  to  his  will, 
that  they  may  receive  his  blessing. 

3d.  Let  us  remember  that  all  the  instances  of  God's 
goodness  lead  us  to  repentance. 

4th.  But  if,  through  all  these,  we  go  down  to  hell, 
how  terrible  will  be  our  damnation  ! 

Moreover,  the  Doctor's  sermon  is  about  three  times 
as  long  as  that  of  Jay.  His  fruitfulness  of  thought,  his 
verbal  affluence,  and  the  mental  independence  that  dis- 
tinguished Dr.  Durbin,  together  with  the  dissimilarity 
of  style,  preclude  thought  of  culpable  plagiary. 


174 


JOHN  P.  BUB  BIX. 


The  Lamb  of  God. 

Among  the  great  doctrinal  discourses  of  Dr.  Durbin 
was  one  on  the  text,  "Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  that 
taketh  away  the  sin  of  the  world."  The  Atonement 
was  his  theme.  With  what  clearness,  fullness,  and  force 
did  he  present  the  sin  of  the  world,  real,  aggravated, 
damning  ;  the  sin  of  the  heart  and  the  life  ;  the  sin  of 
unbelief  and  of  rebellion  ;  the  sin,  not  of  a  color  or 
clime,  of  a  nation,  but  of  a  race;  the  sin  that  has  run 
through  the  ages,  and  that  as  a  tide  surges  in  the  streets 
and  avenues  of  our  cities,  and  that  sometimes  as  really 
inundates  the  homes  of  the  refined  as  the  huts  of  the 
rude.  This  called  Christ  from  heaven.  He  came  to 
be  led  as  a  lamb  to  the  slaughter.  The  paschal  lamb 
had  its  significance  and  exerted  a  power;  the  sacrifices 
by  the  priests  under  the  Levitical  law  impressed  their 
moral  lessons.  But  through  the  "  Lamb  of  God  "  we 
have  "eternal  redemption."  By  his  death  on  the  cross 
he  has  made  the  pardon  of  sin  a  possibility.  And  no 
sin,  however  atrocious — no  iniquity,  however  long  in- 
dulged— no  depravity,  however  dee])  and  dire — is  too 
great  for  the  merit  and  might  of  Calvary. 

Then,  as  a  means  of  our  saving  benefits  through  the 
atonement  made,  he  bade  us  "  Behold  the  Lamb  of  God." 
Attempt  nothing  impossible;  repose  in  no  way  upon  the 
merit  of  good  works,  but  with  the  soul  concentered  in 
his  eye,  "behold,"  not  Moses,  not  Abraham,  not  the 
prophets,  but  Christ.  To  him  look  as  the  Author  and 
Finisher  of  our  faith.  Though  there  is  sin,  and  the 
Lamb  that  taketh  it  away,  it  is  only  by  looking  to  this 
Lamb  that  the  sin  of  our  hearts  and  lives  is  removed. 
But  as  it  is  hunger  that  prompts  the  effort  for  food,  as 
it  is  thirst  that  induces  approach  to  the  fountain,  as  it 
was  peril  that  caused  the  man-slayer  to  flee  to  the  city 


MEMOIR. 


175 


of  refuge,  so  it  is  the  felt  need  of  Christ  that  makes  be- 
holding him  of  any  avail. 

But  Dr.  Durbin  did  not  show  the  Lamb  without  tlur 
law.  "The  law  was  our  school-master  to  bring  us  to 
Christ."  He  knew  whence  the  law  issued.  There- 
fore to  Sinai  he  took  us.  We  heard  its  angry  thunders 
mutter.  We  saw  its  lurid  lightnings  glare,  the  smoke 
was  upon  its  summit,  and  even  a  Moses  quaked  with 
fear.  But  when  he  did  this  it  was  in  sight  of  Calvary. 
Long  centuries  intervene  between  the  convulsing  of  the 
one  and  the  crimsoning  of  the  other.  But  as  a  star 
may  suddenly  shoot  athwart  the  midnight  of  gloom  so 
in  a  moment  the  splendors  of  noonday  may  bre:ik  from 
the  darkest  moral  horizon, and  we  may  be  "all  light  in 
the  Lord." 

Fidelity  to  his  calling  constrained  him  to  utter  the 
fact,  "  God  is  angry  wTith  the  wicked  every  day."  But 
it  was  to  induce  the  transgressor  to  lay  hold  of  the  hope 
set  before  him  in  the  Gospel.  Promises  he  brought  to 
revive  the  spirit  of  the  contrite  ones.  But  whenever 
he  entered  the  Bible,  as  a  garden  of  the  Lord,  every 
rose  that  he  plucked,  every  flower  that  he  culled,  every 
garland  that  he  wove,  was  to  deck  the  brow  of  Him 
whom  malignity  crowned  with  thorns.  He  understood 
his  place.  Sijnai  should  only  blaze  that  Calvary  might 
bless;  and  such  was  the  relation  in  which  he  placed  us 
to  each,  that  from  the  rending  height  of  the  one  we  be- 
held the  bloody  summit  of  the  other,  assured  that  a 
visit  to  Calvary  would  accomplish  nothing  without  a 
sight  of  the  mount  that  flashed  and  flamed.  With  such 
a  beholding  of  the  Lamb  of  God,  in  intensity  of  desire, 
in  depth  of  penitence,  in  implicit  faith,  the  brow  that 
care  had  wrinkled  was  smooth,  the  heart  that  guilt  had 
tortured  found  peace,  and  the  spirit  that  had  been  ready 
to  sink  into  the  depths  of  despair  rose  in  divinest  rapt- 


170 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


ure  to  the  very  bosom  of  God.  Then  did  we  so  "be- 
hold the  Lamb  of  God  "  that  all  other  objects  passed 
from  our  vision.  We  saw  the  meaning  of  the  atonement 
and  the  function  of  faith.  People  were  swayed  like  the 
trees  of  the  forest  before  a  mighty  tempest.  Men  wept 
and  praised,  and  it  was  as  if  God  would  now  show  some- 
thing of  what  Isaiah  saw  when  he  said,  "  The  posts  of 
the  door  moved  at  the  voice  of  him  that  cried,  and 
the  house  was  filled  with  smoke."  The  Rev.  B.  F. 
Crary,  D.D.,  told  the  writer  of  the  great  grace  that 
rested  upon  the  people  as  Dr.  Durbin  preached  from 
this  text  before  the  Illinois  Conference,  held  at  Paris, 
about  1853.  During  its  delivery  attention  was  fixed; 
interest  was  manifest  and  profound;  but  silence  reigned 
except  as  the  preacher's  voice  filled  the  place.  It 
seemed  as  if  the  thoughts  of  others  could  almost  be 
heard.  There  was  a  majesty  in  the  man,  there  was  a 
grandeur  in  the  theme,  and  there  w7as  the  conscious 
presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  assembly.  The  feel- 
ing that  prevailed  was  like, 

"  The  speechless  awe  that  dared  not  move, 
And  all  the  silent  heaven  of  love." 

But  who  shall  tell  the  effect  at  the  close,  when  Dr. 
Durbin  broke  forth  in  his  climax  and  quoted  from 
Cowper,  in  his  own  matchless  manner, 

"  There  is  a  fountain  filled  with  blood 

Drawn  from  Immanuel's  veins  ; 
And  sinners,  plunged  beneath  that  flood, 

Lose  all  their  guilty  stains. 

"The  diving  thief  rejoiced  to  see 

That  fountain  in  his  day ; 
And  there  may  I,  though  vile  as  he, 

"Wash  all  my  sins  away  I  " 


MEMOIR. 


177 


He  gave  the  entire  hymn.  The  whole  congregation, 
as  they  rose  to  sing,  seemed  full  of  the  sense  of  the 
presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  They  took  each  other  by 
the  hand,  and  with  gushing  tears,  and  glowing  hearts, 
and  many  almost  speechless,  stood  on  the  verge  of 
heaven.  Bishop  Ames,  Peter  Cartwright,  and  Peter 
Akers  seemed  as  profoundly  moved  as  any  of  the 
assembly. 

Hope  the  Anchor. 

To  exhibit  Dr.  Durbin's  claim  to  the  highest  style  of 
eloquence,  we  name  a  sermon,  the  first  the  writer  heard 
from  him,  delivered  in  the  "  Union,"  Philadelphia,  on 
Sabbath  morning,  April  12,  1836,  during  the  Conference. 
This  church  had  a  short  time  before  been  built  on  the  site 
of  the  old  "  Academy  "  of  Whitefield.  Dr.  Holdich  had 
filled  it  as  pastor.  He  had  been  succeeded  by  Charles 
Pitman.  Both  were  at  the  height  of  their  reputation. 
They  were  followed  by  the  Rev.  Samuel  Kepler,  trans- 
ferred from  the  Baltimore  Conference.  It  was  the 
period  and  place  of  his  greatest  success.  The  edifice 
was. in  size  and  style  unequaled  in  the  Conference.  In 
architecture  and  furniture  it  was  such  nn  advance  upon 
any  other  Methodist  "  meeting  house  "  in  the  Confer- 
ence that  some  wondered  if  it  was  not  a  departure 
from  our  simplicity. 

The  pulpit  was  broad  and  of  mahogany.  It  had  a 
platform  that  was  covered  with  Brussels  carpet.  Only 
a  lew  years  had  elapsed  since  ingrain  carpet  on  the  pul- 
pit steps  of  another  of  our  churches  had  given  offense. 
Of  the  Union  Church  Dr.  Durbin,  Avhile  editor  of  the 
Christian  Advocate  and  Journal,  thus  writes,  April  25, 
1834:  "It  is  certainly  the  most  superb  and  convenient 
church  I  have  seen  among  us.  All  the  materials  are 
select."  The  choir  was  sustained  by  the  skill  in  singing 
13 


173 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


of  James  Harmstead  and  Samuel  Ashmead,  leading 
members  of  the  charge.  The  house  was  usually  filled 
with  one  of  the  most  quiet  and  intelligent  congrega- 
tions in  Methodism.  As  the  seat  of  the  Conference  it 
was  now  thronged  by  people  and  preachers  anxious  to 
hear  Dr.  Durbin.  It  was  a  question  whether  we  could 
obtain  a  seat.  How  far  the  aesthetic  taste  of  the 
preacher  exalted  his  thoughts  in  a  temple  of  such  at- 
traction and  associations,  how  much  such  an  assembly 
roused  him,  others  may  as  well  judge  as  the  writer. 
This  we  may  say:  the  place,  the  occasion,  the  audience, 
the  theme,  wrere  well  calculated  to  awaken  every  energy 
of  mind  and  heart. 

The  text  was  one  of  the  grandest  in  the  Bible,  Heb. 
6.  17-20:  "Wherein  God,-  willing  more  abundantly  to 
show  unto  the  heirs  of  promise  the  immutability  of  his 
counsel,  confirmed  it  by  an  oath:  that  by  two  immutable 
things,  in  which  it  was  impossible  for  God  to  lie,  we 
might  have  a  strong  consolation,  who  have  fled  for  ref  uge 
to  lay  hold  upon  the  hope  set  before  us:  which  hope  we 
have  as  an  anchor  of  the  soul,  both  sure  and  stead  fast, 
and  which  entereth  into  that  within  the  vail.'1  Difficult 
as  it  now  is  to  write  of  that  sermon,  it  was  then  more 
difficult  to  speak  of  it.  The  people  heard  it  with  atten- 
tion, delight,  and  transport.  The  preacher  showed  that 
the  Christian  has  real,  strong,  everlasting  consolation  in 
Christ.  That  we  are  in  the  world  as  the  ship  is  in  the 
sea;  that  we  as  really  need  an  anchor  for  the  soul  and 
that  we  as  truly  have  it.  Storms  arise,  dangers  threaten. 
Satan  allows  "  no  sea  of  glass "  in  the  present  state. 
Our  anchor  is  hope.  Its  ground,  the  promise  and  the 
oath  of  God.  It  is  cast  within  the  vail  of  the  upper 
temple,  and  as  the  anchor  holds  the  ship  so  this  holds 
the  soul.  This  shown,  the  preacher  seized  the  anchor  of 
our  hope  as  if  it  were  of  iron,  and  flesh  were  equal  to 


MEMOIR. 


179 


spirit.  Like  a  Samson  of  strength,  with  gesture  and 
posture  answering  to  his  purpose,  he  gave  one  tremen- 
dous heave  and  shouted,  "  Brethren,  it  is  within  the^ 
vail !  "  Judging  from  the  accuracy  of  the  aim,  the  im- 
pulse it  received,  the  direction  that  it  took  and  our  own 
feeling,  with  the  appearance  of  the  preacher,  we  ac- 
cepted his  word.  Then  he  declared,  "The  ground  is 
good  and  there  is  no  dragging  of  the  anchor."  He  began 
to  draw  on  the  cable,  the  people  joined  him.  It  was  as 
if  every  'one  in  the  congregation  would  lay  hold.  The 
preacher  was  more  than  himself.  His  eyes  like  orbs  of 
light  rolled  and  flashed  as  it*  kindled  by  celestial  fire. 
His  countenance  radiated.  Every  feature  spoke.  Every 
fiber  of  his  frame  seemed  charged  with  an  electrifying 
power.  Had  Vinet  been  there  he  might  have  quoted  ■ 
this  as  one  of  the  most  perfect  demonstrations  of  the 
power  of  "  dramatismia "  in  the  pulpit.  In  that  ser- 
mon was  there  lacking  a  single  element  of  the  sublime 
given  by  Longinus  ?  Was  there  not  "  grandeur  in  the 
thoughts;"  "the  pathetic;"  "skillful  application  of 
figures ; "  "  graceful  manner  of  expression  ; "  "  and  the 
structure  or  composition  of  all  the  periods  in  all  possi- 
ble dignity  and  grandeur  ?  "  There  is  a  lady  in  Phila- 
delphia who,  when  we  meet,  speaks  of  that  sermon  as 
the  joy  of  her  life. 


180 


JOHX  P.  DUBBIX. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


Correspondence  Concerning  Dr.  Durbin. 

0  aid  in  conveying  the  best  idea  of  Dr.  Durbin's 


J-  power  as  a  preacher,  as  an  educator,  missionary 
secretary,  etc.,  we  present  the  reader  with  the  follow- 
ing letters  prepared  for  his  biography. 

The  first  we  offer  is  from  the  Rev.  John  B.  Merwin, 
D.D.,  the  oldest  effective  minister  in  the  Xew  York 
East  Conference.  His  father,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Mer- 
win, was  one  of  the  distinguished  Methodist  ministers 
of  his  day.  He  availed  himself  of  our  first  college  for 
the  education  of  his  son. 

The  nation  and  Church  were  awakened,  interested, 
and  expectant  by  reason  of  the  eloquence  that  distin- 
guished the  bar,  the  senate,  and  the  pulpit.  Webster, 
Clay,  and  their  confreres  were  gratifying  and  training 
the  taste  of  the  public.  In  the  Church  the  seraphic  and 
sainted  Summertield  had  drawn  together  and  fused  into 
one  assembly  people  of  all  denominations.  Henry  B. 
Bascom,  grand  in  appearance,  and  by  grandeur  of  ora- 
tory and  argument,  drew  crowds  that  overflowed  the 
largest  churches.  Among  the  attendants  were  found 
in  large  numbers  lawyers  and  students  of  all  pro- 
fessions. In  the  air  there  is  borne  a  rumor  of  the 
equal  of  any  of  them,  in  the  person  of  a  young 
professor  of  Augusta  College,  Ky.  In  the  summer  of 
1829,  in  Philadelphia,  it  is  circulated  that  John  P. 
Durbin  is  to  preach  in  the  Academy  (the  Union)  on  a 
Sunday  morning.  A  member  of  its  Sabbath-school, 
I  occupied  a  front  seat  in  the  gallery,  commanding  a 
good  view  of  pulpit  and  congregation.  The  house  was 
filled.   Unnoticed  in  his  coining  in,  a  quiet,  neat,  unpre- 


MEMOIR. 


181 


tentious  man  appeared  in  the  pulpit.  In  every  mind  the 
question  is,  "  Can  this  be  lie  ?  "  The  hymns  and  Script- 
ure were  read,  prayer  ottered  with  low  and  monotonous 
tones  and  peculiar  cadence.  The  text  was  Ileb.  xi, 
24,  25, "  By  faith  Moses,  when  he  was  (tome  to  years,  re- 
fused to  be  called  the  son  of  Pharaoh's  daughter ;  choos- 
ing rather  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people  of  God,  than 
to  enjoy  the  pleasures  of  sin  for  a  season,"  was  read  more 
measuredly  and  in  more  drawling  tones  than  his  former 
readings,  and  ended  with  the  rising  inflection,  and  an  in- 
stant full  opening  of  the  eves.  For  half  an  hour,  with 
voice  and  manner  little  changed,  his  statements  were 
clear,  his  thoughts  a  chain  of  appropriateness,  his  ex- 
pressions often  of  marked  aptness  and  condensation, 
but  all  in  language  so  plain  and  accurate  that  to  m's- 
take  or  misunderstand  were  impossible.  The  audience 
listened  eagerly  and  inquiringly  at  first,  then  restful ly 
and  expectantly.  A  few  concluded  it  was  a  disappoint- 
ment, and  here  and  there  one  and  another  left.  Soon  he 
stood  erect,  his  voice  took  on  strength,  his  eyes  flashed 
with  emotions — preacher  and  audience  were  trans- 
formed. In  some  way  the  attraction  was  felt  in  the 
street,  and  the  seats  were  filled,  and  in  the  space  between 
the  pews  and  doors  the  people  stood.  After  that  when 
it  was  known  he  was  to  preach  the  throng  came  from 
every  direction. 

At  this  time  commenced  that  acquaintance  of  Dr. 
Durbin  with  my  father  and  family  that  became  intimate. 

In  1830  Dr.  Durbin  and  family  had  been  on  a  visit 
to  Philadelphia.  I  had  come  home  from  Wilbraham, 
and  arrangements  were  made  for  me  to  accompany  him 
on  his  return  to  Augusta  and  enter  the  college  there. 
In  June  Dr.  Durbin  and  his  wife,  her  sister,  with  a  * 
young  lady  of  Augusta,  who  had  graduated  in  a  ladies' 
school  in  Philadelphia,  and  myself,  started  together  from 
New  York.  By  steamer  we  went  to  Albany.  From 
there  by  stage  to  Schenectady,  where  we  took  boat  on 
the  Erie  Canal  to  Buffalo.  From  Buffalo  by  steamer  on 
Lake  Erie  to  Painesville,  and  from  Painesville  across 
the  State  by  stage  to  Millville  on  the  Ohio,  where  we 
took  boat  for  Augusta,  which  wre  reached  in  a  little  less 


182 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


than  a  fortnight  from  New  York.  Our  journey  was  so 
arranged  as  to  avoid  traveling  on  the  Sabbath.  We  spent 
one  day  at  Niagara,  so  the  days  of  actual  travel  were 
about  ten  days  and  nights.  The  faculty  took  their  turn 
in  preaching.  Once  in  about  five  weeks  we  heard  Dr. 
Durbin.  None  were  willing  to  lose  their  opportunity 
of  hearing  him.  His  statements  and  propositions  were 
so  lucid  and  manifest  as  to  captivate  assent.  His  man- 
ner disarmed  your  criticism,  and  you  were  left  fully 
under  his  power  as  his  imagination  took  wing,  or  he  en- 
forced the  conclusion  of  his  argument.  The  prevalent 
feeling  left  was,  we  ought  and  must  be  better,  and  we 
will. 

If  to  know  people  we  must  travel  with  them,  the  op- 
portunity was  most  perfectly  furnished  by  the  time  and 
mode  of  this  journey.  The  considerateness,  genialness 
and  affability,  the  playfulness  and  instructiveness  in 
conversation  of  Dr.  Durbin  leave  an  impression  un- 
marred  and  indeficient. 

In  a  few  days  Joseph  Longworth,  of  Cincinnati,  Alex- 
ander Crawford,  Mrs.  Durbin's  nephew,  and  myself  were 
installed  members  of  his  family.  As  such  we  were 
treated  and  made  to  feel.  Dr.  Durbin  was  at  that  time 
editing  Sir  Charles  LyelPs  Principles  of  Geology,  for 
J.  &  J.  Harper,  and  we  became  participants  of  what 
was  striking  and  special  in  this  new  science  of  wonder- 
ful disclosures,  and  in  ways  so  easy  and  natural  that  it 
seemed  like  talking  of  the  news  that  the  daily  papers 
furnished.  Each  was  allured  without  embarrassment  to 
express  opinions  or  thought  on  any  subject  introduced, 
and  to  add  from  their  own  stock  of  reading,  gossip,  or 
invention. 

The  family  devotions  after  breakfast  completed  the 
bond  of  home  feeling  and  the  kindliness  that  was  en- 
kindled and  kept  alive  gave  proof  of  its  benediction. 
As  professor  and  member  of  the  faculty  no  feeling  was 
entertained  for  him  but  the  fullest  respect.  He  re- 
garded and  treated  the  students  as  orentlemen.  The 
spirit  of  mischief  and  fun  that  overflows  in  pranks  of 
ringing  the  college  bell  in  the  night  and  introducing 
animals  or  effigies  in  the  chapel,  and  such  like,  could 


MEMOIR. 


183 


never  make  him  the  object  of  its  diversion.  To  do 
so  would  only  be  to  have  it  return  and  plague  them- 
selves. 

In  the  recitation  room  no  intimation  was  given  of  his 
suspicions  or  intentional  shrewdness  when  a  passage 
was  given  to  this  one  or  that,  or  one  was  selected  for 
the  burden  of  the  lesson,  but  it  came  to  be  felt  that  it 
was  wise  for  each  to  be  fully  prepared.  He  favored  a 
liberal  translation  in  the  reading  of  the  Classics,  but 
kept  us  to  the  grammatical  construction,  or  secured 
proof  that  we  knew  how  the  sentence  was  to  be  parsed. 
There  was  a  freshness  and  interest  in  the  lesson  that 
made  the  impression  that  he  was  both  teacher  and 
learner  ;  that  we  were  pursuing  the  subject  together, 
with  this  advantage  to  us:  that  he  had  mastered  the 
subject,  and  was  ready  with  the  aid  that  we  needed. 
Sometimes  an  incidental  conversation  and  debate  would 
elaborate  itself  into  a  lecture  exhaustive  of  some  point 
or  fact.  lie  was  observant  and  thoughtful  of  the  moral 
ami  spiritual  interest  of  the  young  men,  and  for  his 
kindly  and  timely  counsel,  unobtrusively  given,  many 
will  hold  him  in  in-ateful  esteem  more  than  for  all  things 
else. 

Rev.  Mr.  Hebberd. 
The  following  letter  of  the  Rev.  E.  S.  Hebberd,  of 
the  New  York  East  Conference,  gives  an  account  of  the 
earliest  appearance  of  Professor  Durbin  in  New  York 
city  : 

I  first  saw  and  heard  John  P.  Durbin  about  fifty- 
six  years  ago;  he  was  then  called  Professor  Durbin. 
The  first  time  that  I  heard  him  was  at  a  mis- 
sionary meeting  in  the  old  Greene  Street  Church, 
New  York.  There  were  three  speakers  who  addressed 
the  meeting.  The  first  was  the  Rev.  J.  Holdich,  who 
made  a  very  fine  speech — clear,  chaste,  beautiful.  The 
next  was  Rev.  F.  Hodgson.  I  thought  those  speeches 
were  the  best  I  had  ever  heard.  Professor  Durbin  was 
announced,  whom  I  did  not  then  know  even  by  repu- 
tation.   He  commenced  his  speech  in  a  very  tame,  un- 


184 


JOHN  P.  LURBIX. 


interesting  manner.  I  pitied  him,  and  wondered  why 
they  should  put  up  so  poor  a  speaker  after  the  congre- 
gation had  listened  to  such  eloquent  speeches.  But 
as  he  proceeded,  in  a  little  time  his  face  became  radi- 
ant with  intelligence,  his  eyes  sparkled,  and  his  words 
glowed  with  lire.  I  was  entranced  ;  such  eloquence  I 
had  never  heard  before.  The  congregation  was  aroused 
with  enthusiasm,  and  showed  their  appreciation  of  the 
orator  by  hearty  old-fashioned  Methodist  shouts. 

I  heard  James  Harper,  who  afterward  became  mayor 
of  the  city  of  New  York,  describe  his  impressions  the 
first  time  lie  heard  Dr.  Durbin.  Mr.  Harper  was  then 
a  member  of  the  old  John  Street  Church.  He  said  one 
Sabbath  afternoon,  after  Rev.  Peter  P.  Sanford  had 
preached,  he  called  upon  a  man  whom  he  had  never 
seen  before  to  conclude  the  services.  It  was  announced 
that  Professor  Purbin  would  preach  this  evening,  who, 
he  learned  upon  inquiry,  had  just  dismissed  the  con- 
gregation. Mr.  Harper  said,  "  I  made  up  my  mind  I 
would  stay  at  home  that  evening.  But  before  the  serv- 
ice my  friend,  the  Kev.  Mr.  Collord,  who  was  then 
foreman  of  the  printing  department  in  the  Book-room, 
called  on  me,  and  invited  me  to  go  with  him  and  hear 
a  great  preacher.  I  said,  "  Although  I  had  made  up  my 
mind  to  stay  at  home  this  evening,  I  will  go  with  you 
to  hear  a  great  preacher.  But  where  does  he  preach  ?" 
My  friend  replied,  "  In  John  Street."  I  said,  "  I  beg 
you  will  have  me  excused.  A  dry  college  professor  is 
going  to  preach  there  to-night  ;  I  heard  him  read  and 
pray  this  afternoon."  "  Come  along!  "  said  Mr.  Collord, 
"and  after  you  have  heard  him  if  you  do  not  pronounce 
him  a  great  preacher  you  may  charge  the  disappoint- 
ment to  me."  I  went  and  heard  him,  and  during  the 
first  few  minutes  of  his  sermon  I  said  to  myself,  "If  he 
is  Collord's  great  man  I  do  not  know  where  he  will 
find  his  small  men,"  when  suddenly  a  flash  of  elo- 
quence startled  me.  It  seemed  like  a  sky-rocket  blazing 
in  the  heavens,  and  I  said,  "  That  is  fine."  Then  he  fell 
back  for  a  few  moments  into  his  calm  manner,  and  then 
came  another  sky-rocket,  and  ever  and  anon  another, 
until  the  church  became  illuminated   with  brilliant 


MEMOIR. 


185 


thoughts  and  glowing  eloquence,  and  as  he  concluded 
1  said,  "  A  great  man  indee'd." 

When,  in  1832,  the  cholera  was  raging  so  terribly  in 
many  places  and  had  not  yet  visited  any  part  of  New 
York  State,  the  Governor  of  the  State  appointed  a  day 
of  fasting  and  prayer,  and  called  the  people  together  in 
their  several  churches  to  pray  that  the  cholera  might 
be  averted  from  our  shores.  A  meeting  was  appointed 
in  the  Greene  Street  Church,  and  Rev.  P.  P.  Sanford 
preached.  After  his  sermon  Professor  Durbin  ex- 
horted ;  and  such  an  exhortation  !  After  dwelling  on 
the  dreadful  ravages  with  thrilling  power  and  showing 
that  the  victims  were  largely  among  the  intemperate, 
he  said  with  great  earnestness  :  "  But  should  the 
scourge  visit  us  it  would  be  one  of  the  greatest  auxiliaries 
the  temperanee  cause  has  ever  had,  and  were  it  not  for 
the  consideration  that  men  have  immortal  souls  I  would 
say,  "  Good  Lord,  let  it  come."  The  effect  of  this  speech 
on  the  congregation  was  thrilling,  and  sobs  and  crying 
were  heard  throughout  the  church. 

I  heard  him  about  this  time  deliver  one  of  his  inimi- 
table missionary  speeches  in  New  York.  He  announced 
his  theme,  "  The  Missionary  Society  the  crowning 
theme  of  the  nineteenth  century."  I  can  only  say  that 
that  speech  was  the  crowning  glory  of  all  the  brilliant 
and  eloquent  missionary  speeches  that  I  ever  heard,  be- 
fore or  since. 

I  heard  the  Doctor  deliver  a  Missionary  speech  before 
the  New  York  East  Conference  in  its  session  at  Bridge- 
port in  1856.  He  dwelt  in  that  speech  largely  upon 
the  success  of  our  missions  among  the  American  Indians. 
He  said  that  in  the  early  part  of  his  ministry  he  was 
very  much  prejudiced  against  the  Indians.  He  thought 
they  were  a  cruel  and  treacherous  race.  He  said  that 
when  very  young  in  the  ministry  he  was  invited  by 
a  missionary,  who  was  going  to  visit  and  preach  to  a 
tribe  of  Indians,  to  go  with  him.  He  accepted  the  in- 
vitation. He  said  :  "As  I  sat  in  the  stand,  when  the 
missionary  was  preaching,  I  fixed  my  eye  upon  a  large, 
rough,  hard-featured  Indian,  and  when  the  missionary 
was  dwelling  upon  the  coil  of  sin  and  its  consequences 


186 


JOHN  P.  DURB1X. 


the  Indian  looked  ugly  and  ferocious,  and  I  said  to 
myself, 1  He  is  an  ugly  fellow;  why  preach  the  Gospel  to 
such  ?  '  But  when  the  missionary  passed  on  to  speak  of 
the  sufferings  of  Christ  for  sinful  men,  of  redemption 
through  his  blood,  the  Indian's  countenance  changed, 
the  tears  started  in  his  eyes  and  ran  copiously  down 
his  cheeks,  and  he  sighed  audibly.  I  then  looked 
around  and  saw  others  affected  in  a  similar  manner.  I 
saw  then  that  the  red  man  had  a  heart  that  could  feel 
the  power  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ,  and  ever  since  I 
have  been  a  particular  friend  of  the  poor  Indian." 
There  were  heard  on  that  occasion,  when  the  Doctor 
was  delivering  his  eloquent  speech  before  the  Confer- 
ence, loud  aniens  and  enthusiastic  hallelujahs. 

I  heard  the  Doctor  preach  his  great  sermon  on  John 
i,  29,  "Behold  the  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketh  away 
the  sin  of  the  world,"  daring  the  session  of  the  New 
York  East  Conference  in  Hartford,  Conn.,  in  1852. 
The  sermon  was  preached  in  the  largest  Congregational 
church  in  the  city.  The  church  was  crowded  to  its  ut- 
most capacity  ;  the  Governor  of  the  State  of  Connecticut 
and  many  distinguished  citizens  were  there.  It  was  a 
great  occasion,  and  the  Doctor  was  in  his  happiest  mood. 
The  Rev.  J.  J.  Matthias  was  present,  and  he  was  a  pre- 
cise man  every  way;  of  the  strictest  school  of  ortho- 
doxy, and  ever  wakeful  against  the  approach  of  hetero- 
doxy. He  sat  in  a  chair  near  the  pulpit,  and  as  his 
eloquent  brother  would  soar  away  in  his  brilliant 
flight  he  would  move  forward  in  his  chair,  as  though  he 
feared  he  would  go  beyond  the  bounds  of  orthodoxy, 
and  then  he  would  fall  back  with  a  look  of  satisfaction, 
as  much  as  to  say,  "all  right." 

It  seems  tome  that  John  P.  Durbin,  without  going  be- 
yond the  bounds  of  orthodoxy,  was  fifty  years  ago 
further  advanced  in  progressive  thought  than  any  of 
the  Methodist  preachers  with  whom  I  am  acquainted 
at  the  present  day. 

Again  I  was  impressed  with  the  fact  that,  while  he 
ranked  among  the  greatest  pulpit  orators  of  the  world, 
there  was  a  power  in  his  moods  of  simplicity  that  all 
great  orators  do  not  have.    In  my  youth  I  used  to 


MEMOIR. 


187 


hear  Bascom  quite  frequently.  While  he  stood  as 
high  in  the  sublime  flights  of  oratory,  lie  could  not  de- 
scend with  Durbin  to  what  St.  Paul  calls  M  the  simplicity 
that  is  in  Christ."  Bascom  would  not  condescend  to 
tell  an  anecdote  in  his  sermons,  he  called  those 
preachers  who  would  "  anecdote  mongers."  Durbin 
was  not  only  grand  and  sublime,  but  was  also  beautiful 
and  sometimes  overwhelming  in  his  simplicity. 

I  heard  him  in  one  of  his  grand  missionary  speeches 
in  New  York,  in  speaking  of  the  folly  of  heathen 
worship,  say,  "  If  I  had  before  me  on  this  table  some  of 
the  gods  that  the  heathen  worship,  little,  ugly,  impy 
things,  and  should  say  'These  are  the  gods  that  made 
heaven  and  earth,'  I  do  not  ask  what  this  intelligent 
congregation  would  say ;  but  that  little  girl  whose  eve 
has  been  so  steadily  fixed  on  me  during  my  speech 
would  say,  '  No,  these  are  not  the  gods  that  made  the 
heaven  and  the  earth ;  for  my  mother  and  my  Sunday- 
school  teacher  taught  me  the  Lord  God  omnipotent 
made  the  heaven  and  the  earth.'  " 

In  a  sermon  delivered  in  New  Haven  during  the  ses- 
sion of  the  New  York  East  Conference  in  that  city,  in 
1859,  I  heard  him  relate  his  experience  on  his  conver- 
sion. He  said  for  some  weeks  he  was  under  deep  con- 
viction  for  sin.  In  a  protracted  meeting  at  that  time 
there  was  a  young  lady  named  Miss  Prince  converted; 
she  was  brought  into  the  liberty  of  the  Gospel  so 
clearly,  and  told  her  experience  so  sweetly,  that  I 
thought  I  wrould  like  to  be  converted  just  in  that  way, 
and  I  prayed  that  the  Lord  would  convert  me  just  as 
he  had  converted  Miss  Prince;  but  the  blessing  did  not 
come  in  that  way.  One  day,  as  I  was  kneeling  at  the 
altar,  I  heard  a  man  next  to  me  say,  '  Praise  the  Lord!  ' 
and  I  repeated  it,  'Praise  the  Lord!'  and  then  the 
blessing  came,  and  I  shouted,  4  Glory  to  God!'  and  I 
found  that  I  was  not  converted  in  Miss  Prince's  way, 
but  in  tlie  Lord  Jesus  Christ's  way."  And  there  was 
no  part  of  that  great  sermon  that  melted  the  hearers  as 
that  simple  relation  of  his  conversion.  The  experience 
of  that  great  and  good  man  was  a  great  help  to  me  in 
revival  services,  and  I  helped  penitents  into  the  king- 


188 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


dom  by  telling  them  how  God  converted  John  P. 
Divrbin. 

In  regard  to  Dr.  Durbin's  gift  in  prayer,  I  remember 
that  James  Harper  received  a  poor  opinion  of  the  doc- 
tor's talent  after  hearing  him  pray  and  before  he 
heard  him  preach.  My  opinion  is,  that  there  were  times 
when  his  prayers  did  not  show  a  marked  ability  ;  but 
at  other  times  in  prayer  he  would  have  "  the  unction  of 
the  Holy  One,"  and  his  prayers  were  attended  with 
great  power.  I  heard  him  pray  previous  to  a  sermon 
that  I  heard  him  preach  in  New  Haven,  and  it  was  one 
of  the  most  impressive  prayers  I  ever  heard.  Although 
forty  years  ago,  I  remember  some  of  the  phrases  of 
that  prayer.  He  prayed  with  much  fervor  that  nothing 
might  occur  to  militate  against  the  sacredness  of  that 
hour;  that  there  might  be  no  unusual  noise,  no  alarm- 
ing fire,  but  that  we  might  quietly  and  without  disturb- 
ance wait  on  the  Lord.  It  seemed  a  prayer  like  those 
of  Cornelius  that  came  up  for  a  memorial  before  God. 
The  Rev.  Otis  Helland,  of  the  Norwegian  and  Danish 
Conference,  told  me  that  he  heard  Dr.  Durbin  pray 
during  the  session  of  the  General  Conference  of  1844, 
and,  although  nearly  a  half  a  century  has  past,  he  re- 
members that  prayer.  How  earnestly  and  eloquently, 
in  that  day  of  her  peril,  he  prayed  for  her  union,  her 
prosperity,  her  future  welfare  and  usefulness  ! 

One  thing  more  I  remember,  nearly  allied  to  this:  Dr. 
Durbin's  regard  for  the  pure  worship  of  God.  I  was 
present  some  years  ago  at  the  preachers'  meeting  in 
New  York  when  the  question  was  discussed  of  the  im- 
propriety of  allowing  some  notices  of  secular  character 
to  be  read  from  the  pulpit.  Dr.  Durbin  said  when  he 
was  pastor  he  never  read  any  notices  in  connection  with 
the  worship  of  God.  The  first  thing  he  did  when  he 
entered  the  pulpit  was  to  read  the  notices,  and  then  say, 
"  We  will  now  commence  the  worship  of  God." 

Another  thing  I  observed  in  this  brilliant  and  eloquent 
man  was  his  impulsive  extemporizing;  his  readiness  to 
turn  passing  events  to  account.  I  heard  him  preach 
a  Thanksgiving  sermon  on  Thanksgiving  afternoon,  in 
the  old  Mulberry  Street  church.    Toward  the  conclu- 


MEMOIR. 


189 


sion  of  his  sermon  a  cloud  came  over  the  sky  and 
brought  twilight  earlier  than  usual.  He  seized  upon 
the  departing  light  as  a  figure  of  the  passing  away  of 
life's  short  journey,  and  poured  forth  a  burst  of  the 
most  charming  eloquence  I  ever  listened  to.  At  another 
time  I  heard  him  deliver  in  New  York  one  of  his  in- 
comparable missionary  speeches.  He  announced  two 
propositions,  and  then  said,  "Allow  me  to  digress  a  mo- 
ment. A  fresh  thought  strikes  me;"  and  he  continued 
uttering  fresh  and  inspiring  thoughts  until  he  had  con- 
sumed his  time,  and  as  he  sat  down  he  remarked  he 
would  at  some  future  time  deliver  the  speech  he  had 
prepared  for  that  evening. 

I  did  not  in  my  former  communication  give  an  ac- 
count of  a  sermon  that  I  heard  Dr.  Durbin  preach,  on 
the  Prodigal  Son,  in  the  Seventh  Street  Church  in  New 
York,  in  1834.  The  discourse  was  very  eloquent  and 
produced  a  great  effect  upon  the  congregation;  but  I 
have  a  more  distinct  recollection  of  the  application  than 
any  other  part  of  that  wonderful  sermon.  I  remember 
how  earnestly  he  pleaded  with  sinners  to  leave  the  land 
of  famine  and  come  home  to  their  Father's  house.  He 
impressed  upon  them  the  necessity  o£  coming  home  note, 
and  quoting  from  our  hymn-book;  and  who  could  re- 
cite Charles  Wesley's  poetry  with  such  force  and  effect  ? 
The  effect  produced  upon  the  audience  when  he,  in  his 
best  style  and  with  the  unction  of  his  peerless  elo- 
quence, quoted 

"  All  things  are  ready,  come  away ; 
Ready  the  Father  is  to  own 
And  kiss  his  late-returning  son  ; 
Ready  your  loving  Saviour  stands, 
And  spreads  for  you  his  bleeding  hands. 
Ready  for  you  the  angels  wait, 
To  triumph  in  your  blest  estate." 

And  then  he  said,  "  Sinner,  Gabriel  is  here  now,  wait- 
*  ing  for  your  decision.  What  do  you  say,  wanderer ;  will 
you  come  home?  And  then  he  bent  forward  in  the 
attitude  of  a  listener,  as  if  waiting  for  the  prodigal's 
answer;  and  then,  changing  his  position  and  looking 
up,  he  cried  in  a  tone  of  sadness,  "  O,  Gabriel,  the  sin- 


190 


JOHX  P.  DURBIX. 


ner  says,  'No;'  he  will  not  come  home."  And,  after  a 
short  panse,  he  said,  "  O,  thou  messenger  of  heaven, 
write  not '  X'o '  on  the  docket  of  eternity  !  Wait,  an- 
gel of  God,  the  sinner  relents.  I  see  the  tear  in  his 
eye.  Gabriel,  the  sinner  says  'Yes;'  the  prodigal  is 
coming  home."  Then,  with  expressive  gesture  and 
appropriate  words,  he  represents  God's  angel  as  flying 
through  the  heavens  and  entering  the  pearly  gates  of  glory 
to  announce  the  good  tidings.  And  then  the  eloquent 
preacher  cried  aloud,  "  Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates, 
and  be  ye  lifted  up,  ye  everlasting  doors,  that  we  may 
behold  the  joy  of  the  happy  hosts  of  glory,  and  hear 
the  joyful  notes  of  the  heavenly  choir  singing,  1  The 
dead  is  alive,  the  lost  is  found  ; '  "  and  then,  amid  the 
sobs  of  penitents  and  the  shouts  of  the  redeemed,  he 
sat  down.  It  seemed  as  if  we  could  look  through  the 
gates  and  see  the  happy  immortals  and  hear  their  songs 
of  rejoicing. 

George  Whitefield  said  something  like  this;  Durbin 
might  have  taken  some  grain  from  his  garner,  but  the 
kernels  went  through  Durbin's  mill  and  came  out  with 
his  brand  upon  them  ;  the  voice,  the  action,  the  manner, 
the  whole  thing,  was  Durbinian. 

Professor  Durbin  made  his  first  appearance  in  Xew 
York  as  an  eloquent  and  popular  preacher  about  the 
time  of  my  conversion,  and  from  the  first  I  took  to  him. 
Ilis  voice,  his  manner,  his  words  charmed  me,  and 
helped  me  very  much  in  my  early  Christian  life.  I 
once  heard  him  address  young  men,  and,  with  the  much 
excellent  advice  which  he  gave  them,  he  said,  "  Young 
men,  lay  up  in  youth  a  stock  of  useful  knowledge. 
What  I  learned  last  week  I  have  to  learn  over  this 
week,  but  what  I  learned  in  my  youth  comes  to  me  wTith 
the  freshness  of  the  morning.  So,  young  men,  what 
you  learn  now  becomes  part  and  parcel  of  yourself,  and 
when  you  become  old  it  will  not  depart  from  you."  So 
I  pondered  over  and  cherished  and  laid  up  in  my  mem-  4. 
ory  many  of  the  sayings  of  this  great  and  good  man. 
I  observed  as  closely  as  I  was  capable  his  doctrine, 
manner  of  life,  purpose,  faith,  charity.  This  I  observed 
also :  that  as  a  pastor,  college  professor,  president,  or 


MEMOIR. 


101 


missionary  secretary,  he  always  could  say  to  all,  with 
the  apostle,  "  I  am  an  ambassador  for  Christ:  as  though 
God  did  beseech  you  by  me,  I  pray  you  in  Christ's 
stead  be  ye  reconciled  to  God."  I  observed,  farther,  in 
all  his  great  missionary  speeches  that  I  was  privileged 
to  hear  lie  loved  to  dwell  upon  the  power  of  the  Gospel 
in  the  conversion  of  the  heathen.  He  would  shame 
into  repentance  the  impenitent  living  in  Christendom 
by  showing  them  the  greater  contrition  of  the  heathen 
with  inferior  privileges.  His  eloquence  and  zenl  were 
calculated  to  move  the  lukewarm  professor  to  diligence 
by  considering  the  work  of  grace  and  salvation  going 
on  in  the  regions  beyond  them.  He  showed  his  hear- 
ers that  while  they  were  feeling  for  and  praying  for 
the  salvation  of  the  pagan,  and  giving  of  their  means  to 
send  the  Gospel  to  them,  their  prayers  and  bounty 
would  return  to  their  own  bosoms.  Under  the  charm 
of  his  evangelical  eloquence  his  hearers  were  made  to 
feel  (to  borrow  the  language  of  an  eminent  divine)  that 
while  the  love  of  distant  nations  glows  in  our  hearts  it 
melts  us  all  down  into  love  to  each  other,  and  burns  up 
all  jealousies  and  strife,  and  makes  us  workers  together 
with  Him  who,  though  he  wras  rich,  yet  for  our  sakes 
became  poor,  that  we  through  his  poverty  might  be 
rich. 

Rev.  S.  A.  Seaman. 

Men  fight  their  way  to  fame.  The  reputation  of  the 
young  preacher  from  the  West  might  not  satisfy  a  New 
York  audience,  and  we  see  in  Rev.  S.  A.  Seaman's 
letter  the  reasoning  of  strong  men. 

On  Sabbath  morning  Rev.  S.  Merwin  entered  the 
church  followed  by  a  stranger  of  gentlemanly  appearance, 
who  occupied  the  pulpit.  In  reading  the  hymn  and  first 
Scripture  lesson  there  was  considerable  apparent  hesita- 
'  tion,  and  a  disagreeable  twang  in  his  voice.  The  prayer, 
however,  though  marred  by  the  same  defects,  abounded 
in  rich  thought  and  melting  pathos.  His  text  was  the 
Song  of  Solomon  iii,  2-4.  As  he  proceeded  his  manner 
changed,  he  suddenly  seemed  to  grasp  a  great  thought, 


192 


JOHX  P.  BUBBLY. 


and  in  a  moment  was  another  man.  The  disagreeable 
twang  disappeared,  his  voice  rose,  his  eyes  glowed,  and 
his  gestures  were  easy  and  natural.  For  nearly  an  hour 
he  held  his  hearers  enchained,  and  closed  with  an  address 
to  young  Christians  in  which  he  referred  to  his  own 
experience  and  the  teaching  and  example  of  a  godly 
grandfather.  Xo  one  who  remembers  the  Rev.  J.  P. 
Durbin  will  need  be  told  that  lie  was  the  preacher. 
My  father  used  to  tell  of  his  going  to  John  Street,  one 
Sunday  morning,  and  being  told  when  he  got  there  that 
a  very  able  preacher  was  to  occupy  the  pulpit.  When 
the  services  began,  however,  there  was  such  a  drawl 
and  twang  in  the  preacher's  voice,  that  he  concluded 
the  expected  preacher  had  not  come,  and  this  was  .some 
raw  backwoodsman  who  had  been  put  in  his  place. 
But  when  the  sermon  was  fairly  begun  my  father  was 
convinced  that  he  was  the  preacher.  This  sermon  of 
which  my  father  speaks  must  have  been  among  the  first,  if 
not  the  first,  which  Dr.  Durbin  preached  in  New  York. 

The  following  letter  is  from  Rev.  Thomas  Bowman, 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  senior  Bishop  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church.  He  was  a  member  of  the  class  of  1837,  which 
was  the  first  that  graduated  after  Dickinson  College 
came  into  our  hands,  and  by  the  vote  of  the  faculty  was 
the  valedictorian. 

In  personal  appearance  Dr.  Durbin  was  not  specially 
attractive.  He  was  a  little  below  the  average  in 
height,  and  his  limbs  were  not  well  proportioned.  His 
features  were  somewhat  irregular,  and  when  in  a  quiet 
mood  were  not  very  expressive.  When,  however,  he 
became  eno-aged  in  conversation  or  in  a  public  address 
the  whole  man  became  entirely  changed. 

He  was  always  approachable,  and  in  a  few  minutes 
the  fear  excited  by  his  prominence  and  reputation 
would  disappear,  and  one  would  feel  entirely  at  home  in 
his  presence.  In  his  own  house  the  visitor  was  made 
to  feel  at  ease,  and  abroad  he  was  always  a  welcome 
guest.  After  my  first  acquaintance  with  him  I  never 
felt  any  special  restraint  in  his  presence  anywhere. 


MEMOIR. 


193 


As  a  teacher  I  have  never  known  his  superior.  He 
had  a  wonderful  ability  to  communicate  his  ideas  in 
plain,  simple  language,  and  in  a  most  interesting  and 
attractive  manner.  In  the  recitation-room  we  frequently 
started  questions  suggested  by  something  in  the  lesson, 
sometimes,  perhaps,  to  have  a  hard  lesson  laid  over  for 
another  day,  but  generally  for  the  information  needed 
and  desired.  Before  we  were  aware  of  it  the  hour 
would  be  gone,  and  as  we  retired  to  our  rooms  sueh 
expressions  as  these  would  be  heard  from  every  mem- 
ber of  the  class  :  "  Wasn't  that  interesting  !  "  u  Worth 
a  dozen  recitations  !  "  "  Delightful  !  "  "  What  a  won- 
derful man  !  "  I  do  not  think  that  I  ever  heard  a  stu- 
dent complain  of  a  dull  hour  in  Dr.  Durbin's  room. 

As  president  of  the  college,  both  in  his  administration 
and  governing  power  the  Doctor  was  fully  up  to  the  de- 
mands in  the  case.  The  institution  was  in  its  beginning 
with  us,  and  every  thing  was  in  a  formative  state.  It  had 
failed  thrice  in  the  hands  of  other  denominations,  and 
our  church  in  Carlisle  was  comparatively  weak.  The 
students  were  of  a  mixed  character,  representing  various 
grades  of  society  north  and  south.  Indeed,  every  thing 
was  in  a  crude  state.  But  the  wise  and  prudent  presi- 
dent managed  all  the  affairs  with  marked  success.  It 
is  true  he  had  a  noble  faculty,  composed  of  Professors 
Caldwell,  Emory,  Roszel,  Allen,  and  McClintock, 
whose  equals  are  rarely  found.  But  he  secured  and 
retained  their  confidence,  respect,  and  love  to  such  an 
extent  that  there  was  no  division  among  them,  and  he 
had  their  hearty  support  to  the  end.  lie  was  equally 
successful  in  winning  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the 
students,  lie  had  a  high  sense  of  manliness  and  honor, 
and  both  by  precept  and  example  he  imparted  these  to 
his  students.  He  was  firm  and  decided,  yet  kind  and 
tender,  and  none  but  the  most  wayward  were  inclined 
to  disobey  him.  On  one  occasion  'there  was  quite  a 
rebellion  among  the  boys.  Under  the  leadership  of  a  tall, 
courageous  fellow,  they  marched  into  the  campus,  and 
after  a  fiery  speech  or  two  were  ready  for  any  thing. 
The  president,  having  become  awTare  of  the  trouble, 
came  out  of  his  oflice  and  made  his  way  into  the  midst 
14  '4 


JOHN  R  DURB1X. 


of  the  enraged  crowd.  He  spoke  kindly  but  firmly  of 
the  impropriety  of  the  course  they  were  taking,  and, 
having  suggested  a  wiser  and  more  honorable  way,  he 
asked  them  to  retire  to  their  rooms.  In  less  than  five 
minutes  the  campus  was  c  lear  and  we  heard  no  more  of 
\var.  A  little  incident  in  this  writer's  college  history 
will  illustrate  the  manly,  honorable  spirit  of  President 
Durbin. 

My  father  having  business  in  Harrisburg,  and  not 
having  time  to  miike-me  a  visit,  requested  that  I  should 
be  permitted  to  spend  a  couple  of  days  with  him. 
Leave  of  absence  was  obtained  ;  but  my  father  detained 
me  a  day  or  two  beyond  the  time  specified  in  my  leave 
of  absence.  On  my  return  late  in  the  afternoon  I 
sought  the  president  in  his  office  and  at  his  home,  to 
hand  him  father's  letter  of  explanation.  But  I  could 
not  find  him.  Soon  the  evening  prayer-bell  rang,  and 
I  went  to  prayers,  intending  to  hand  him  the  letter  at 
the  close.  Unfortunately,  however,  two  or  three  stu- 
dents had  been  before  the  faculty  for  the  violation  of 
the  rules  during  my  absence.  Immediately  at  the  close 
of  the  service  the  president  announced  the  penalty 
awarded  those  students,  and  added,  "the  ease  of  Mr. 
Bowman  has  been  laid  over  for  further  consideration." 
I  was  terribly  mortified,  and,  handing  him  my  father's 
letter,  with  explanations  for  not  having  given  it  sooner, 
I  retired  to  my  room,  determined  to  pack  up  my  books 
and  go  home.  My  chum  and  other  students  tried  to 
dissuade  me.  But  I  said,  "I  cannot  stay  here  under 
this  open  disgrace."  In  the  evening  the  president,  as 
he  was  passing  through  the  building,  called  at  my  room 
and  found  me  packing  my  things.  "Why,"  said  he, 
"  what  are  you  doing  ?  "  1  frankly  told  him,  and  he  said, 
"You  had  better  take  a  little  more  time  for  refleetion," 
and  retired.  This  rather  added  to  my  grief.  But  the  next 
morning  after  prayers  he  said  :  "  Young  gentlemen,  I 
wish  your  attention  for  a  moment.  Last  night  I 
thoughtlessly  committed  a  mistake  which  I  wish  as 
publicly  to  correct.  I  did  injustice  to  Mr.  Bowman, 
and  I  ask  his  pardon."  This  settled  the  whole  matter. 
If  he  had  said  any  thing  like  it  even   privately  I 


MEMOIR. 


195 


would  have  been  satisfied.  As  we  retired  from  the 
chapel  the  students  gathered  around  me  and  said,  "  You 
cannot  go  after  such  a  manly  and  honorable  apology." 
I  felt  so  too,  and  Dr.  Durbin  stood  higher  in  my  respect 
and  admiration  and  in  the  confidence  of  all  the  students. 

But  it  was  in  the  pulpit  and  on  the  platform  that  Dr. 
Durbin  reigned  supreme.  During  a  period  of  nearly 
forty  years  I  heard  him  speak  in  public  under  greatly 
varying  conditions.  I  heard  him  in  the  country  vil- 
lage, in  the  large  towns  and  cities,  at  the  camp-meeting, 
at  the  Conference,  and  at  great  public  anniversaries  ; 
and  I  never  heard  him  when  he  did  not  give  me  valu- 
able instruction,  move  my  emotional  nature,  and  leave  a 
Lasting  impress  on  my  heart. 

It  is  always  difficult  to  analvze  the  elements  of  an 
eloquent  speaker's  power.  In  Dr.  Durbin's  case  there 
seemed  to  be  a  wonderful  combination  of  elements,  no 
one  of  which  could  be  positively  said  to  be  the  source 
of  his  marvelous  power  over  an  audience.  His  dis- 
courses abounded  in  strong,  practical  thoughts,  pre- 
sented in  clear,  plain,  pure  English.  In  the  beginning 
his  voice  was  somewhat  heavy  and  drawling,  and  his 
general  delivery  a  little  repulsive.  After  a  little  all 
that  disappeared.  His  voice  became  clear  and  full,  his 
action  animated,  his  face  radiant,  his  eyes  enlarged,  and 
his  entire  person  almost  transfigured.  He  was  happy 
in  illustration  and  had  a  wonderful  power  of  descrip- 
tion. I  once  heard  him  describe  the  destruction  of 
Sodom  in  such  a  vivid  manner  that  the  whole  scene 
seemed  to  be  a  living  reality,  and  I  a  part  of  it.  The 
LM-e;it  audience  seemed  to  be  similarly  affected.  One 
bright  young  skeptic,  sitting  just  in  front  of  me,  became 
so  powerfully  affected  that  he  could  hardly  contain 
himself.  And  yet,  as  I  afterward  heard  him  say,  he 
went  to  the  church  fully  determined  that  the  great 
preacher,  should  not  move  him. 

The  doctor's  elocutionary  powers  were  quite  superior. 
His  voice  was  rich,  full,  and  melodious.  His  gesticula- 
tions were  easy  and  natural.  His  features  were  re- 
markably variable  and  expressive.  Indeed,  the  outward 
man  was  in  full  harmony  with  the  inward,  and  both, 


196 


JOHX  P.  LURB1N. 


without  any  discord,  combined  to  impress  and  inspire 
the  hearer. 

Usually  the  introductory  portions  of  his  discourses 
were  considered  rather  dull  and  heavy.  But  they 
were  full  of  excellent  expositions  of  Scripture  and  tine 
thoughts  bearing  on  the  questions  in  hand,  and  always 
preparatory  for  the  eloquent  descriptions  and  applica- 
tions that  were  to  follow.  The  disappointment  of  the 
hearers  in  the  beginning  was  largely  attributable  to  the 
fact  that  he  rarely  threw  himself  into  his  subject  until 
he  had  briefly  stated  the  line  of  thought  he  intended  to 
present.  But  when  the  .  great  questions  that  were  in 
the  mind  of  the  speaker  were  clearly  and  fully  given 
to  the  minds  of  the  people,  they  were  prepared  to  ap- 
preciate and  enjoy  the  wonderful  bursts  of  eloquence 
that  would  follow  like  flashes  of  lightning  across  the  sky. 

His  sermons,  though  not  written,  were  thoroughly 
prepared,  and  the  leading  thoughts  were  clearly  and 
impressively  presented  to  his  hearers.  While  preach- 
ing he  looked  at  the  people  and  talked  as  naturally  as 
he  would  with  a  company  of  friends  in  his  parlor,  or 
with  his  class  in  the  recitation  room.  Hence  he  meas- 
urably read  their  thoughts  and  knew  where  their  minds 
and  hearts  were.  Thus  the  speaker  and  hearers  were  in 
hearty  sympathy  with  each  other;  and  when  his  mind 
and  heart  were  full  of  the  inspiration  of  his  theme,  they 
were  ready  to  receive  the  electric  currents  as  they 
flowed  out  from  him.  I  never  heard  a  speaker  who 
thrilled  me  as  did  Dr.  Durbin,  or  left  upon  my  mind 
and  heart  so  many  clear,  solid,  and  abiding  impressions. 

A  few  incidents  will  show  how  others  regarded  his 
power  as  a  public  speaker. 

In  his  early  ministry  he  was  sent  to  a  prominent  town 
in  Indiana.  On  his  arrival  he  was  entertained  by  one 
of  the  leading  families  of  our  Church.  Soon  after  his 
introduction  to  his  hostess  her  husband  found  her  in  an 
adjoining  room  weeping.  M  Why,"  said  the  husband, 
"what  is  the  matter?"  u  O,"  said  she,  "to  think 
that  I  have  been  for  weeks  praying  that  the  Lord 
would  send  us  a  good  preacher  that  we  might  have  a 
precious  revival,  and  now  to  see  what  a  man  has 


MEMOIR. 


197 


come!  "  On  Sabbath,  however,  the  unpromising  young 
man  swept  every  thing  before  him,  and  the  good  lady, 
with  the  rest  of  the  audience,  had  a  glorious  hour.  As 
she  left  the  church  she  exelaimed,  "  Glory  to  God  ! 
lie  knew  better  than  we  what  kind  of  a  man  to  send  us." 

About  the  time  the  doctor  was  retiiing  from  the  col- 
lege I  heard  him  preach  in  one  of  the  large  towns  of 
Pennsylvania,  where  I  had  on  former  occasions  heard 
two  of  the  most  eloquent  preachers  of  that  day.  The 
next  day  I  met  a  prominent  lawyer,  afterward  one  of 
the  supreme  judges  of  the  State,  whom  I  had  seen  at 
church  on  Sabbath,  and  whom  I  had  seen  present  also 
when  the  other  two  preachers  were  heard.  I  said  to 
him,  "  How  did  you  like  Durbin's  sermon  yesterday  ?  " 
"  O  !  "  said  he,  "  it  was  magnificent !  "  I  said,  "  I  think 
you  heard  two  other  distinguished  preachers" — naming 
them.  "  Which  do  you  think  is  the  greatest  preacher?  " 
"All  three  of  them,"  said  he.  "  You  cannot  compare 
them.  Each  is  greatest  in  his  line.  Durbin,  I  think, 
has  the  greatest  moving  power." 

Some  time  after  this,  while  the  doctor  was  the  pastor 
in  Union  Church,  Philadelphia,  this  same  lawyer  spent 
a  Sabbath  in  the  city.  He  invited  a  prominent  lawyer 
friend  from  another  part  of  the  State  to  go  with  him  to 
hear  Dr.  Durbin.  After  the  friend  had  heard  the  doc- 
tor talk  a  few  minutes  he  wished  to  retire,  saying,  "  We 
will  get  nothing  specially  interesting  here."  But  he 
was  persuaded  to  remain.  In  a  little  while  he  was  seen 
leaning  forward,  his  hands  grasping  the  seat  before 
him,  his  eyes  and  mouth  open,  and  he  almost  upon  his 
feet.  At  the  close  of  the  sermon  he  settled  back  upon 
his  seat,  and  whispered  to  his  companion,  "I  never 
heard  the  like  of  that  !  " 

On  one  occasion,  at  a  camp-meeting  in  the  Cumber- 
land Valley,  I  heard  the  doctor  preach  a  sermon  of 
m  irvelous  power.  As  in  a  few  other  instances,  his 
discourse  was  intensely  interesting  and  attractive  from 
the  beginning.  Although  it  was  about  two  hours  long 
there  was  not  the  slightest  sign  of  uneasiness  or  weari- 
ness  in  the  great  congregation.  About  the  middle  of 
the  sermon  the  mass  of  the  people  unconsciously  rose  to 


193 


JOHX  P.  LURE IX. 


their  feet,  pressed  around  the  pulpit,  and  stood  spell- 
bound to  the  end.  At  one  time,  while  he  was  describ- 
ing the  condition,  of  the  lost,  an  intelligent,  well-edu- 
cated lawyer  standing  near  me  grasped  a  tree  against 
which  he  was  leaning  and  began  to  climb  it.  Three 
times  I  had  to  pull  him  down,  and  after  the  close  of 
the  services  he  could  not  be  made  to  realize  the  condi- 
tion through  which  he  had  passed. 

On  the  platform  as  well  as  in  the  pulpit  the  doctor 
was  rarely  equaled,  and  never,  I  think,  excelled.  His 
Sunday  lectures  in  the  college  always  drew  a  crowd  of 
citizens  and  students,  and  they  seldom  retired  without 
feeling  that  their  fullest  expectations  had  been  realized. 

On  several  occasions  at  missionary  anniversaries  I 
heard  the  doctor  speak  in  connection  with  several  of 
the  most  distinguished  platform  speakers  of  the  day, 
and,  in  every  instance  I  think  the  general  judgment  was 
that  his  address  was  fully  equal  to  the  best. 

The  following  letter  from  a  distinguished  layman  of 
Xew  York  city  may  justly  follow  that  of  Bishop  Bow- 
man, as  it  shows  a  like  spirit  to  that  which  so  affected  the 
young  Bowman: 

An  illustration  of  his  wisdom  as  well  as  kindness  in 
compassing  his  ends  in  the  government  of  a  college  was 
furnished  by  a  gentleman  of  Mississippi,  well  known  for 
his  genial  hospitality,  charming  manners,  and  literary 
culture,  who  used  to  tell  how,  as  a  boy  and  through  lile, 
he  had  cause  to  love  Dr.  Durbin  most  gratefully  for  his 
wise  counsel,  kind  forbearance,  and  discreet  use  of  au- 
thority. While  a  student  at  Augusta  College  in  Ken- 
tucky he  was  inclined  to  show  more  devotion  to  fishing 
and  shooting  than  to  study.  Professor  Durbin,  who 
was  then  acting  as  president  of  the  institution,  had 
vainly  endeavored  to  lead  him  to  a  better  observance 
of  academic  rules,  but  the  young  gentleman,  in  the  ex- 
uberance of  health  and  spirits,  continued  to  be  careless 
of  discipline  until  one  day,  while  engaged  in  some 
sports  on  the  grounds,  he  heard  a  window  raised  and 
himself  summoned,  in   the  peculiarly  mild  but  firm 


MEMOIR. 


109 


and  controlling  voice  of  the  professor,  to  come  to  his 
room.  Professor  Durbin  there  read  to  him  a  letter  which 
he  had  carefully  prepared  for  the  young  man's  father, 
setti n l»;  forth  clearly  and  with  affectionate  regret  the 
shortcomings  of  the  pupil,  and  advising  that  the  boy 
should  return  to  his  home  and  remain  there  until  he 
was  better  prepared  for  the  discipline  and  steady  work 
of  earnest  school-life.  The  young  man  was  asked  if 
there  was  any  tiling  in  the  letter  which  was  not  just. 
"No!  "he  frankly  answered,  "the  letter  is  just  and 
fair  in  every  way,  Professor  Durbin  ;  all  I  ask  is,  that 
you  will  withhold  it  for  one  month,  and  give  me  the 
opportunity  to  redeem  myself  in  your  eyes  and  save 
my  dear  father  from  the  pain  which  such  a  letter  would 
inflict  upon  him."  The  wise  and  kind  professor  never 
had  occasion  to  send  the  letter  or  to  again  remonstrate 
with  his  young  friend,  whose  devotion  to  his  books  soon 
equaled  his  devotion  to  sports.  He  was  graduated  with 
distinction  at  a  northern  university,  and  became  well 
and  widely  known  as  an  honored  and  useful  citizen  of 
his  State. 

Doubtless  during  the  many  years  that  Dr.  Durbin 
was  a  teacher  he  had  many  such  cases  to  manage  ;  and 
doubtless,  too,  he  managed  them  with  wisdom,  discretion, 
forbearance,  and  tact,  and,  above  all,  with  that  kindness 
united  with  firmness  so  characteristic  of  his  administra- 
tion of  many  enterprises  better  known  to  the  world, 
perhaps,  but  surely  not  more  useful  and  important  than 
the  training  of  the  young  and  the  development  of  manly 
character. 

The  following  letter  is  from  one  of  the  early  gradu- 
ates of  Dickinson  College,  the  Rev.  C.  F.  Deems,  D.D., 
pastor  of  the  Church  of  the  Strangers,  New  York.  It 
was  prepared  for  the  biography  of  Dr.  Durbin,  though 
published  in  The  Christian  Advocate: 

My  father  was  a  local  preacher  in  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church.  It  was  natural  that  he  should  send 
me  to  the  new  Methodist  college  under  the  great 
preacher,  that  I  might  receive  my  education.    I  was 


200 


JOHN  P.  LURB1X. 


five  years  in  Carlisle — one  in  the  preparatory  depart- 
ment and  four  in  the  college — and  therefore  came  in 
sight  of  Dr.  Dnrbin  and  under  his  influence  when  he 
was  in  the  prime  of  his  power.  Wonderful  were  the 
advantages  of  the  boys  who  lived  in  that  college  town 
at  that  period.  Apart  from  the  scholastic  advantages 
there  were  the  immense  church  privileges. 

Dr.  George  Duffield  was  at  the  Presbyterian  church, 
a  man  of  rare  learning  and  great  skill  in  preaching. 
Dr.  McGill,  since  of  Princeton  College,  was  preaching 
to  a  small  congregation,  1  believe  of  Covenanters. 
Young  as  I  was,  I  was  struck  with  the  contrast  between 
the  smallness  of  his  congregations  and  the  massiveness 
of  his  discourses.  Two  years  of  the  time  the  Method- 
ist pastor  was  the  Rev.  George  G.  Cookman,  one  of  the 
most  thrillingly  eloquent  preachers  of  his  denomination. 
In  the  college  were  Drs.  McClintock  and  Emory,  two 
young,  gifted,  and  accomplished  professors,  who  had 
the  stimulus  of  alternating  with  such  men  as  Durbin 
and  Cookman.  No  mortal  man  in  any  age  of  Chris- 
tianity, I  am  persuaded,  ever  enjoyed  superior  church 
privileges,  so  far  as  preaching  was  concerned,  to  those 
at  the  command  of  students  in  Carlisle  from  1834  to 
1839. 

The  chief  of  these  pulpit  princes,  by  great  odds,  was 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Durbin.  I  have  never  studied  any  man 
so  closely  to  find  out  his  methods  as  Dr.  Durbin;  and 
yet,  putting  together  all  I  have  thought  through  the 
nearly  half-century  since  I  first  knew  him,  I  find  it 
difficult  to  give  a  satisfactory  analysis.  His  physique 
was  not  at  all  impressive.  An  orator  should  be  large. 
Indeed,  size  in  a  man  counts  every-where.  In  public  men 
the  lack  of  the  last  half  foot  can  be  compensated  only  by 
doubling  the  brain-power.  Dr.  Durbin  was  small.  He 
did  not  have  that  brow  which  is  supposed  to  be  the  throne 
of  thought.  He  lacked  the  great  nose  by  which  Napo- 
leon set  great  store.  His  eye  was  very  pleasant,  but  not 
striking,  when  he  was  in  repose.  His  manner  \va<  a 
little  finical,  his  voice  was  not  very  musical,  and  his 
utterances  at  the  beginnings  of  his  discourses  were 
made  with  a  drawl.    Yet,  being  a  man  like  that,  he 


MEMOIR. 


would  begin  his  sermons  in  an  elocution  which  is  :i 
cross  between  a  Quaker  intonation  and  the  hard-shell 
Baptist  whine,  and  succeed  in  almost  immediately  ar- 
resting the  attention  of  his  hearer  by  making  the  ap- 
pearance of  a  cat-like  approach  upon  his  intellect.  The 
hearer  would  watch  to  see  what  was  coming  next,  and 
felt  very  much  like  a  mouse  that  knew  that  the  distance 
between  the  cat  and  himself  had  diminished,  but  was 
afraid  to  run  lest  any  motion  should  provoke  the 
dreaded  sudden  spring. 

Then  there  came  a  period  in  which  the  attacking 
party  moved  from  side  to  side,  apparently,  and  did  not 
make  much  additional  approach.  Then  there  was  a 
moment  of  stillness,  and  then  there  was  a  bound,  not 
as  of  a  cat  on  a  mouse,  but  as  of  a  tiger  on  some  nobler 
game,  producing  a  thrill  that  made  all  the  vegetation 
of  the  jungle  tremble. 

I  can  think  of  no  other  figure  to  describe  my  remem- 
brance of  the  style  of  this  remarkable  man.  So  sudden 
and  so  prodigious  would  be  those  shocks  that  I  have 
seen  whole  congregations  swayed  by  them.  Twice  in 
my  junior  years  I  sat  and  watched  the  approach,  and 
just  as  it  came  sprang  to  my  feet  to  meet  it.  The 
word  magnetic  is  sometimes  used  about  men,  generally 
very  loosely,  I  think.  I  have  met  only  two  men  who 
to  me  were  magnetic;  namely,  Henry  Clay  and  John  P. 
Durbin.  In  my  boyhood  I  could  never  see  Mr.  Clay 
rise  from  his  seat  to  speak  without  having  a  nervous 
chill,  although  I  heard  him  only  in  his  declining  years. 
So  John  P.  Durbin  drew  me,  thrilled  me,  filled  me,  and 
in  a  large  measure  formed  me.  I  am  sure  he  could  not 
have  done  this  merely  through  the  great  kindness 
which  he  always  showed  me  in  the  class-room,  in  his 
own  study,  in  his  home,  and  when  I  began  to  preach,  if 
there  had  not  been  behind  it  all  a  remarkable  force  of 
intellect.  I  could  not  call  that  intellect  profound.  It 
was  searching,  analytic,  practical,  forceful.  He  was  a 
student  of  books  and  a  student  of  men.  He  was  a  man 
of  affairs  as  well  as  a  man  of  pious  offices.  Rarely  do 
men  who  had  his  oratorical  powers  succeed  in  business 
matters  as  Dr.  Durbin  I  know  succeeded  in  the  presi- 


202 


JOflN  P.  LURBIX. 


dency  of  the  college,  and,  as  I  think  his  Church  be- 
lieves, as  he  succeeded  as  a  great  missionary  secretary. 

I  cannot  conceive  how  any  printed  sermon  of  his 
would  give  any  adequate  impression  of  his  genius  as  an 
orator  to  one  who  had  not  heard  him.  His  most  pow- 
erful passages  were  really  like  claps  of  thunder  out  of 
a  clear  sky.  Men  have  set  themselves  to  watch  him, 
but  have  found  themselves  like  hunters  who  were  so 
absorbed  in  the  rush  of  the  deer  that  they  forgot  to 
fire  the  rifle. 

I  remember  that  on  one  of  the  hottest  days  I  ever 
felt  in  Philadelphia  I  saw  a  congregation  actually 
almost  asleep  during  his  introduction,  who  all  seemed 
to  wake  up  and  turn  to  him  with  brightened  eyes  at  the 
first  explosion  of  his  oratorical  battery.  It  is  much 
easier  to  describe  phenomena  than  to  assign  causes  or 
explain  methods. 

Dr.  Durbin  prepared  his  sermons  carefully,  ordi- 
narily spoke  from  a  brief,  and  largely  engaged  himself 
in  tracing  the  soundness  of  what  he  had  learned  from 
books  by  his  application  thereof  to  his  current  knowl- 
edge of  human  nature,  which  he  had  seen  under  many 
phases.  I  have  gazed  upon  most  of  t he  constellations 
of  pulpit  oratory  in  America  and  in  Europe.  To  this 
day,  in  memory  and  imagination,  John  P.  Durbin  stands 
as  the  one  particular  star,  divinely  bright,  always  beam- 
ing with  something  of  the  radiance  of  that  glory  of  God 
which  shines  in  the  face  of  Jesus. 

I  do  not  think  that  this  estimate  of  him  is  greatly 
exaggerated  by  my  affection,  since  we  met  very  seldom 
in  the  last  forty  years  of  his  life.  If  I  spoke  of  him  as 
a  teacher  I  should  pronounce  his  distinguishing  char- 
acteristic to  be  the  power  of  stimulating  the  intellects 
of  his  students.  The  moment  he  found  one  of  the 
class  interested  in  the  question  he  would  drop  every 
thing  else,  and  perhaps  lose  the  whole  recitation,  in 
order  to  discuss  that  question  with  him.  Having  dis- 
covered that,  and  having  found  that  I  was  particularly 
able  somehow  to  get  into  a  metaphysical  discussion 
with  the  doctor,  our  class  in  its  senior  year  put  me 
forward  two  or  three  times  when  their  preparations 


MEMO  JR. 


203 


were  not  very  complete,  to  start  a  question  with  the 
doctor  and  argue  with  him  by  the  space  of  ten  minutes. 
That  was  all  that  was  necessary.  The  rest  of  the  hour 
was  spent  in  a  thrilling, glowing  discussion  of  the  ques- 
tion in  hand.  I  ought  to  say,  perhaps,  that  my  occa- 
sional deficiency  of  preparation  to  he  questioned 
increased  my  zeal  in  these  questioning  exercises. 

At  last  one  day  Dr.  Durhin  sa;d  to  me,  with  his 
peculiar  intonations  which  must  be  supplied  by  those 
who  heard  him  : 

"Mi*.  Deems,  do  you  not  think  that  you  and  I  may 
be  a  little  selfish?  I  have  noticed  now  for  several 
mornings  that  you  and  I  have  taken  up  the  whole  hour 
in  discussions  in  which  we  both  were  very  much  inter- 
ested, but  it  had  the  result  of  cheating  the  class  out  of 
recitation.  If  you  will  come  to  my  room  after  recita- 
tion we  will  discuss  this  question  which  you  have  just 
asked,  but  we  must  not  take  up  another  hour  with  our 
little  debating  society." 

And  then  he  went  in  on  me  and  the  other  fellows 
through  the  rest  of  the  recitation,  absolutely  refusing 
to  explain  any  thing,  and  demanding  that  we  should 
explain  every  thing. 

I  need  not  tell  any  student  in  psychology  that  that 
treatment  cured  me  of  my  little  trick,  which  will 
probably  be  pardoned,  as  it  was  almost  the  only  mis- 
chief of  my  college  course — a  course  without  a  single 
lark,  a  single  hair-breadth  escape,  a  single  dramatic  or 
picturesque  situation;  a  course  which  was  probably  as 
barren  of  mischief  as  any  ever  passed  in  collegiate  walls. 

It  gives  me  pleasure  at  this  late  date  to  lay  this 
humble  tribute  on  the  grave  of  my  old  master. 

Some  recollections  of  J.  P.  Durbin,  from  Rev.  W. 
Lee  Spottswood,  D.D.  Dr.  Spottswood  was  one  of  the 
early  graduates  of  Dickinson,  under  Dr.  Durbin: 

How  carefully  we  keep  the  recollections  of  departed 
friends!  Such  recollections  are  rich  treasures.  It  is  a 
pleasure  at  fitting  times  to  bring  them  from  their  store- 
house and  show  them. 


204 


JOHX  P.  DURBIK 


Dr.  Durbin  was  chargeable  with  artifice;  but  like  the 
cunning  of  St.  Paul,  when  he  wrote  to  the  Corinthians, 
"Being  crafty,  I  caught  you  with  guile,"  it  was  sinless. 
When  he  had  prepared  a  sermon  he  knew  that  he  had 
something  worthy  of  being  said,  and  he  desired  very 
properly  to  say  it  to  as  many  hearers  as  possible.  So 
he  had — for  students,  at  least — a  notification  of  his  being 
booked  to  preach  somewhere.  It  was  this:  the  wearing 
at  Sunday  morning  prayers  in  the  college  chapel  of  a 
white  cravat,  never  worn  under  any  other  circumstances. 
The  students  knew  the  sign,  and  asked,  "  Where  does 
the  president  preach  to-day  ?  "  And  they  always  flocked 
to  the  church  indicated  to  hear  him. 

He  could  in  a  public  assembly,  with  well-trained  skill, 
seize  a  circumstance  and  make  it  tell  with  great  effect. 
In  the  Eutaw  Street  Church  of  Baltimore,  many  years 
ago,  he  spoke  on  a  platform  to  a  crowded  congregation 
met  in  the  interests  of  the  Tract  Society.  In  the  very 
torrent,  tempest,  and,  as  I  may  say,  whirlwind  of  his 
passion,  he  cried  out,  "  I  would  rather,  Mr.  President, 
that  a  young  man  would  read  novels  than  never 
read  at  all."  Bishop  Waugh  said,  "Doctor,  I  have 
been  told  of  your  making  that  remark  before,  and  I 
thought  that  if  I  had  been  present  I  would  have  re- 
buked you.  Now  I  am  here,  and  I  have  heard  you 
for  myself,  and  I  rebuke  you."  When  the  Bishop 
took  his  seat  up  sprang  Dr.  Durbin  and  excitedly  re- 
plied, "What  I  want,  Mr.  President,  is  to  give  the 
mind  a  start ;  it  is  then  in  the  wrong  direction,  to  be 
sure,  but  I  hope  to  head  it  off  and  turn  it  back  and 
press  it  into  the  right  course."  His  reply  brought 
down  the  house. 

He  was  an  interesting  teacher.  His  lecture-room  was 
not  a  place  to  suffer  a  burden,  but  one  to  enjoy  a  real 
pleasure.  He  was  a  shrewd  instructor  as  well.  In  the 
spirit  of  students,  every-where  and  in  all  times,  who  will 
go  to  more  trouble  to  avoid  a  lesson  than  to  learn  it,  our 
class,  in  order  to  escape  a  recitation,  used  to  provoke  a 
controversy  on  some  point  suggested  by  the  author 
studied.  Dr.  Durbin  would  take  the  bait  readily,  enter 
the  arena  of  debate  with  a  will  and  keep  up,  with  keen 


MEMOIR. 


205 


jest  and  great  vigor,  the  wrangle  till  the  ringing  of 
the  college-bell  told  the  wranglers  that  the  hour  for 
recitation  in  his  room  had  ended.  Then  the  president, 
with  that  peculiar  smile  of  his,  almost  an  agreeable 
grin,  showing  all  his  front  teeth,  would  .blandly  say, 
"Gentlemen,  if  you  please,  get  today's  lesson  over, 
with  so  much  in  addition."  And  we,  green  students  as 
we  were,  would  leave,  chuckling  in  the  belief  that  by 
trickery  we  had  foiled  our  teacher.  But  now,  after 
more  than  one  third  of  a  century  in  pondering  the 
matter,  we  know  full  well  that  he  was  no*  foiled  a  whit. 
The  wise  president  knew  what  he  was  about ;  he  was 
aware  that  such  a  discussion,  awakening  thought  and 
making  it  all  alive,  requiring  intellectual  skill,  demand- 
ing the  application  of  knowledge,  and  calling  every 
mental  gift  into  exercise,  was  far  better  than  any  mere 
recitation  from  a  text-book. 

He  was  an  accomplished  declaimer.  The  writer  has 
heard  him  at  a  church-meeting,  where  several  exercises 
were  in  progress,  declaim  with  the  correctness  and  action 
of  a  true  elocutionist,  and  with  the  tire  of  religious  emo- 
tion burning  in  his  heart,  the  whole  hymn  commencing 

"  Sinners,  turn  ;  why  will  ye  die? 
God,  your  maker,  asks  you  vvh}- !  " 

The  effect  of  his  declamation  was  profound.  He  was  a 
genuine  orator.  In  his  oratory,  however,  was  reversed 
the  usual  order  of  things,  often  named,  "After  a  storm 
there  is  a  great  calm."  His  order  was,  After  a  great 
calm  a  storm.  One  of  the  young  men  who  accompanied 
him  on  his  European  tour  used  to  tell  of  the  doctor's 
first  sermon  in  England.  The  preacher  lingered  so  long 
in  his  uninteresting  way  that  his  fellow-tourists  began 
to  fear  that  he  would  linger  in  that  way  to  the  end,  as 
he  sometimes  did,  and  that  his  sermon  in  consequence 
would  be  a  marked  failure.  But  no;  the  sign  was  given, 
up  went  the  right  arm,  crossed  over  to  the  other  side, 
and  struck  hardly  the  palm  of  its  hand  upon  the  left 
breast.  Then  burst  the  oratory  suddenly,  and  rolled  on 
continuously,  to  the  wonder  and  rapture  of  all  his 
hearers.    Forty  years  ago,  when  a  mere  lad,  the  writer 


208 


JOHX  P.  DURE IN. 


heard  Dr.  Durbin,  then  in  his  prime,  preaching  at  a 
camp-meeting.  His  text  was,  "  That  at  the  name  of 
Jesus  every  knee  should  bow,  of  things  in  heaven,  and 
things  in  earth,  and  things  under  the  earth;  and  that 
every  tongue  should  confess  that  Jesus  Christ  is  Lord, 
to  the  glory  of  God  the  Father."  The  impression  made 
upon  the  relater,  especially  by  the  concluding  portion 
of  that  sermon,  can  never  be  effaced.  It  is  as  clear  to- 
day as  it  was  in  the  long  ago.  On  that  Sabbath  morn- 
ing the  orator's  voice  very  soon  lost  its  drawl,  monotone, 
and  tameness,  and  then  reaching  the  richest  tones  it 
rang  out  rapidly,  clearly,  and  in  the  fullest  volume. 
His  eloquence  came  "like  the  outbreaking  of  a  fount- 
ain from  the  earth,  or  the  bursting  forth  of  volcanic 
fires,  with  spontaneous,  native,  original  force."  And  his 
peroration  was  a  picture  inspired  by  a  vivid  imagina- 
tion, and  so  graphically  word-painted  by  the  aid  of 
superior  descriptive  talent  in  its  best  estate  that  it 
seemed  a  picture  of  terribleness,  real  and  present  to  the 
sight,  and  the  writer  remembers  that  a  tremor  passed 
all  over  him,  as  it  did,  no  doubt,  over  others  also.  .  .  . 
Longfellow,  in  Morituri  Salutamus,  says: 

"  The  great  Italian  poet,  when  he  made 
His  dreadful  journey  to  the  realms  of  shade, 
Met  there  the  old  instructor  of  his  youth, 
And  cried  in  tones  of  pity  and  of  ruth, 
'  O  never,  from  the  memory  of  my  heart, 
Your  dear,  paternal  image  shall  depart: 
Who  while  on  earth,  ere  yet  by  death  surprised, 
Taught  me  how  mortals  are  immortalized: 
How  grateful  am  I  for  your  patient  care 
All  my  life  long  my  language  shall  declare.'  " 

And  the  author  of  this  simple  In  Memoriam  repeats,  as 
all  other  pupils  of  Rev.  John  P.  Durbin,  D.D.,  at  the 
mention  of  his  name,  will  also  repeat : 

"  To-day  we  make  the  poet's  words  our  own, 
And  utter  them  in  plaintive  undertone." 

The  following  is  from  the  Rev.  J.  H.  Hargis,  D.D., 
of  the  Philadelphia  Conference: 


MEMOIR. 


207 


On  the  occasion  of  his  last  visit  to  Carlisle,  during 
the  last  session  preceding  the  Wilmington  division  of 
the  old  Philadelphia  Conference,  convened  in  Harris-- 
burg,  March,  1K66,  Dr.  Durbin,  as  a  member  of  the 
Conference  and  first  president  of  the  college  under  the 
Methodist  rh/inie,  came  from  Harrisburg,  an  hour's  ride 
to  Carlisle,  to  fill  his  appointment  for  the  Sunday-morn- 
ing sermon  in  Emory  Chapel.  It  was  largely  descriptive 
of  the  Tabernacle,  delivered  distinctly,  with  delibera- 
tion suited  to  his  time  of  life,  and  in  a  narrative  style. 
The  remarkable  feature  of  the  discourse  was  the  facial 
expression  of  the  preacher  when  he  reached  the  cli- 
macteric description  of  the  Shekinah.  His  eyes  dilated 
and  illuminated  with  a  light  that  never  was  seen  on  sea 
or  land.  His  face  was  transfigured  and  "  did  shine  as 
the  light,"  and  the  congregation  was  entranced  with 
the  shining  splendor  of  his  person  until  the  venerable 
form,  with  closed  eyes,  was  bowed  in  the  final  prayer. 

The  following  is  from  Rev.  Thomas  IT.  Burcb,  D.D., 
member  of  the  New  York  East  Conference  : 

Residing  for  a  term  of  years  in  New  York,  he  often 
officiated  in  the  pulpits  of  that  city  and  its  vicinity.  I 
heard  him  frequently — in  fact,  whenever  it  was  practi- 
cable. But  of  these  eagerly  coveted  opportunities 
two  left  a  deep  and  lasting  impression  on  my  memory 
because  of  certain  extraordinary  features  which  I  want 
briefly  to  describe. 

The  first  of  these  sermons  was  delivered  at  the  dedi- 
cation of  a  church  in  Brooklyn.  It  was  a  bright  and 
balmy  Sunday  morning  in  June.  The  congregation 
filled  the  audience-room;  even  the  aisles  were  crowded 
with  the  occupants  of  chairs  and  camp-stools,  while  a 
considerable  number  were  obliged  to  be  content  with 
standing-space  about  the  doors.  Several  clergymen 
were  present,  some  of  whom  conducted  the  preliminary 
exercises.  Then  Dr.  Durbin  announced  his  text:  "Be- 
hold the  Lamb  of  God,  which  taketli  away  the  sin  of 
world  !  "  He  began  with  the  characteristic  drawl,  though 
much  abridged,  however,  in  this  instance,  and  soon 


208 


JOHX  P.  D  URBIK 


passing  into  various  vivacious  tones.  The  earlier  part 
of  the  discourse  was  largely  taken  up  with  references  to 
Old  Testament  scriptures,  familiar  to  most  hearers,  yet 
so  put  as  to  fix  attention  and  excite  growing  interest. 
Perhaps  he  was  never  more  animated:  form  erect,  face 
flushed,  eyes  rolling  in  a  way  peculiar  to  him  in  higher 
moods  of  thought  and  expression;  in  short,  each  tone 
and  movement  betokened  rapt  absorption  in  his  theme 
as  he  advanced  from  one  period  to  another  with  telling 
force.  At  length  the  turning-point  was  reached,  in  ef- 
fectiveness at  least,  when  the  preacher  introduced  a 
touching  narrative,  quite  simple  in  its  materials,  but 
used  with  masterly  skill.    In  substance  it  was  this: 

Some  years  ago  while  in  Cincinnati  he  had  been 
asked  to  visit  a  dying  man,  a  stranger  in  the  city,  cut 
off  from  Christian  association  and  sympathy.  Agreeably 
to  this  request,  at  midnight  the  visitor  climbed  seven 
flights  of  stairs  to  the  top  floor  of  a  high  building, 
where  he  found  the  sick  man,  obviously  in  the  last 
stages  of  mortal  disease.  Although  religiously  edu- 
cated he  was  much  disturbed  concerning  the  great 
hereafter;  for,  having  been  caught  in  the  meshes  of  the 
Calvinistic  theory,  not  daring  to  count  himself  among 
the  elect  he  could  see  no  room  for  hope.  His  visitor 
made  no  attempt  to  reason  away  these  gloomy  impres- 
sions other  than  by  citing  pertinent  Scripture  passages, 
especially  the  words,  "  Forasmuch  as  the  children  are 
partakers  of  flesh  and  blood  he  also  himself  likewise 
took  part  of  the  same."  I  remember  asking  myself 
at  the  time  whether  that  was  the  most  felicitous  quotation 
to  be  used  in  the  circumstances  ;  but  as  it  was  repeated 
slowly,  and  then  the  question  put  more  than  once  with 
most  persuasive  emphasis,  "Are  not  you  a  partaker  of 
flesh  and  blood?"  all  doubt  vanished.  Assuredly  that 
was  the  exact  passage  demanded.  The  dying  man  caught 
the  meaning,  and  clinging  to  it,  lost  his  fears  in  blissful 
confidence,  affirming  that  he  could  fearlessly  trust  him- 
self to  his  Saviour.  The  effect  of  this  recital  was 
electrical.  Sitting  where  I  could  see  the  whole  con- 
gregation, there  seemed  not  so  much  a  wave  of  emotion 
sweeping  gradually  over  it  as  a  down-rush  of  feeling 


MEMOIR. 


209 


simultaneously  touching  and  molting  every  person  in  the 
house.  For  so  wonderfully  vivid  and  graphic  was  the 
picture  that  each  felt  himself  a  witness  of  the  scene  ; 
each  looked  into  the  face  of  the  dying  man,  heard  him 
cough,  listened  to  the  fervid  words  of  his  counselor, 
saw  the  troubled  expression  change  into  one  of  sweet 
tranquillity;  in  short,  realized  the  whole  at  once.  As 
also  when  the  preacher  added  that,  going  the  next 
morning  to  the  stranger's  room,  he  found  him  dead,  but 
on  his  face  a  smile  of  a  soul  that  had  entered  into  rest, 
every  one  sato  that  smile. 

Thereafter  the  speaker  swayed  the  audience  at  his 
will.  The  merit  of  the  sermon  was  sustained  to  the 
end  ;  but  had  it  fallen  off,  or  had  the  discourse  been 
greatly  lengthened,  not  one  would  have  become  im- 
patient   It  was  a  rare  triumph  of  oratory. 

When  the  people  were  dismissed,  a  brother,  then  as- 
sistant pastor  of  the  dedicated  church,  but  since  serving 
with  distinction  in  another  denomination,  a  man  of  con- 
siderable phlegm,  and  strong  self-control,  came  up  to 
me,  his  eyes  swollen  with  weeping,  and  exclaimed, 
"  What  a  wonderfully  effective  discourse  !  " 

That  was  the  first  occasion.  The  second,  following 
an  interval  of  not  more  than  six  weeks  or  two  months, 
differed  very  widely  from  the  former.  Indeed,  the 
strange  and  strong  contrast  of  the  one  with  the  other 
has  chiefly  prompted  this  letter. 

About  the  time  referred  to  some  persons  in  the  city 
of  New  York  united  in  an  effort  to  promote  a  larger 
attendance  at  public  worship,  particularly  among  non- 
church  goers.  For  this  purpose  several  churches  in 
the  lower  part  of  the  city  were  induced  to  open  their 
doors  for  Sunday-afternoon  services,  and  eminent 
preachers  were  sought  for  to  insure  the  success  of  the 
project.  Dr.  Durbin  preached  to  one,  if  not  more,  of 
these  afternoon  congregations :  for  then  I  heard  the 
second  of  the  two  sermons  I  am  writing  about.  As 
said  above,  this  was  strikingly  unlike  the  first.  One 
point  of  resemblance,  however,  was  noticeable  at  the 
outset;  namely,  the  text,  which  was  the  exact  language 
used  before.  The  opening  sentences,  too,  suggested 
15 


210 


JOHN  P.  BURBLV. 


that  the  sermon  to  follow  might  be  similar.  To  me 
that  was  no  disappointment.  On  the  contrary,  a  repe- 
tition of  what  he  esteemed  the  most  powerful  discourse 
he  had  ever  heard  would  afford  a  young  minister,  eager 
to  learn  all  the  mysteries  of  the  sacked  art,  a  more  favor- 
able opportunity  to  penetrate  the  secret  of  the  great 
preacher's  power.  Well,  the  sermon  proved  to  be  the 
very  same,  and  yet  how  different  !  Identical  in  structure, 
in  agreement,  in  illustration,  in  diction,  in  every  literary 
aspect,  nevertheless,  it  fell  so  far  short  of  the  mighty 
utterance  first  heard  as  to  be  altogether  another  and 
vastly  inferior  thing.  Possibly  there  were  verbal  dif- 
ferences, perhaps  even  minor  changes  in  illustration, 
but  I  did  not  perceive  them;  most  assuredly  the  same 
in  substance,  but  by  comparison  how  tame,  and  stale, 
and  dull !  There  came,  too,  in  due  order,  the  story  of 
the  dying  man,  identical  in/brm,but  all  the  pathos  and 
power  lacking.  Nobody  seemed  moved  by  it;  even 
the  preacher  appeared  to  have  no  special  interest  in  it. 
Yet  there  it  stood  in  the  right  place,  a  mere  memory, 
a  sort  of  ghost  !  So  to  the  end — except  that  in  the  first 
sermon  some  concluding  sentences  were  especially  con- 
formed to  the  dedicatory  character  of  that  service — to 
the  end  the  second  was  a  reproduction  of  the  first  in 
every  particular,  so  far  as  I  was  able  to  note,  save  effect- 
iveness. The  man  sitting  next  to  me  drowsily  nodded 
from  time  to  time.  In  seats  to  the  front  several  per- 
sons were  asleep.  Sheer  amazement  at  the  contract 
between  the  two  deliverances  of  the  same  message,  if 
nothing  else,  kept  one  hearer  wide  awake. 

I  left  the  church  thoroughly  puzzled.  Of  course,  due 
allowance  ought  to  be  made,  on  the  one  hand,  for  the 
greater  inspiration  of  the  first  event,  and,  on  the  other, 
for  the  less  favorable  time  of  day  when  the  second  dis- 
course was  delivered.  So,  too,  it  might  be  surmised 
that  the  physical  condition  of  the  preacher  was  not 
good,  though  of  that  there  was  no  sign. 

But  after  every  concession  the  strange  discrepancy 
still  remained  perplexing.  Even  now  I  cannot  solve 
the  problem  with  any  satisfaction  to  myself.  Can 
you  ? 


MEMOIR. 


211 


The  following  is  from  the  Rev.  L.  F.  Morgan,  D.D., 
member  of  the  Baltimore  Conference,  and  one  who 
bad  known  Dr.  Durbin  from  the  time  of  his  entering 
upon  the  presidency  of  Dickinson  College  : 

I  regard  Dr.  Durbin  as  the  extraordinary  man  of 
the  extraordinary  men  of  his  time;  the  greatest  orator 
and  organizer  the  Church  lias  produced.  I  have  heard 
almost  every  preacher  and  statesman  who  has  risen  to 
eminence  in  the  country  for  the  last  fifty  years.  Dur- 
bin was  the  first  to  measure  up  to  my  conception  of 
the  power  of  eloquence  in  a  sermon  preached  at  the 
Baltimore  Conference,  in  the  city  of  Winchester,  Va., 
in  the  spring  of  1835.  I  never  lost  an  opportunity  ot' 
hearing  him  afterward.  My  admiration  made  me  seek 
to  know  him  in  the  early  years  of  my  ministry.  I  was 
honored  with  his  friendship,  and  frequently  had  his 
services  in  the  pastoral  charges  I  served.  When  I  was 
stationed  in  the  city  of  Washington  ho  preached  for 
me  in  the  Foundry  Church.  The  building  had  recently 
undergone  repairs.  An  immense  audience  crowded  the 
place  of  worship.  The  girder  of  the  end  gallery  broke 
with  a  crash,  which  produced  the  wildest  consternation. 
Almost  every  one  left  the  house  ;  but  when  they  saw 
from  the  outside  that  the  walls  and  roof  were  all  right 
they  crowded  in  again,  and  were  soon  made  to  forget 
every  thing  but  the  "Lamb  of  God,  which  takech  away 
the  sin  of  the  world."  Contrary  to  his  usual  rather  prosy 
opening,  he  seemed  at  the  very  outset  to  catch  the  in- 
spiration for  which  he  was  remarkable  in  reaching  his 
climaxes,  which  were  often  overwhelming  to  his 
audiences. 

As  an  organizer  of  church-work  he  excelled  as  much 
as  he  did  in  pulpit  eloquence.  The  great  missionary 
scheme  for  the  conversion  of  the  world  to  Christ  oper- 
ated by  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  is  a  monument 
to  his  genius.  For  generations  to  come  he  will  be 
recognized  as  the  great  missionary  secretary.  It  is  no 
disparagement  to  those  who  have  filled  the  office  since 
he  vacated  it  to  say  that  he  has  not  had  an  equal,  and 
he  of  the  future  who  shall  rival  him  must  be  blessed 


212 


JOHN  P.  DUB  BIX 


with  the  opportunity  of  developing  agencies  now 
unknown  to  the  work  of  evangelization. 

The  Rev.  Benjamin  F.  Price,  of  the  Wilmington  Con- 
ference, a  minister  of  more  than  fifty  years,  thus  writes 
of  Dr.  Durbin  : 

In  him  simplicity,  courtesy,  and  dignity  of  manners 
seemed  to  find  perfect  exemplification.  In  the  gallery 
of  great  men  I  look  upon  Dr.  J.  P.  Durbin  as  the  high- 
est portrait.  And  I  am  willing  to  be  criticised,  if  any 
have  the  temerity  to  do  it,  when  I  say  that  as  a 
preacher,  if  he  had  any  equal  among  his  contem- 
poraries, none  surpassed  him.  And  in  all  the  qualities 
that  give  efficiency  to  manhood  he  abounded  and  ex- 
celled. In  nothing,  it  would  seem,  was  his  life  a  failure; 
he  honored  every  post  he  filled.  As  college  professor 
and  president,  as  editorial  journalist,  as  missionary 
secretary,  as  representative  in  church  councils,  as 
presiding  elder,  and  as  pastor  and  preacher,  simplicity, 
clearness,  grandeur,  and  power,  were  elements  that 
made  his  eloquence  the  wonder  of  his  hearers.  If  he 
did  sometimes  speculate  in  the  pulpit  it  was  never  in 
a  w;iy  to  mystify  the  subject  ;  he  was  always  sure  to 
make  his  meaning  plain,  and  even  if  you  disagreed  with 
him,  which  was  seldom  the  case,  you  were  at  no  loss  to 
understand  him,  and  you  were  fascinated  by  his  in- 
genious methods  of  illustration  and  argumentation. 
His  eloquence  in  the  pulpit  was  like  a  gale  full  of 
odors ;  the  stars  flashed  and  the  electric  chords  made 
music  as  the  current  pas-ed.  On  the  Conference  floor 
he  was  the  statesman  and  philosopher.  When  a  question 
seem  tangled  and  tied  in  knots,  and  it  was  necessary 
to  understand  the  situation,  Dr.  Durbin  would  calmly 
rise,  and  by  his  wonder-working  analysis  not  only  un- 
ravel the  web,  but  present  its  various  phases  with  such 
skill  of  exposition  that  the  perplexity  would  cease  and 
the  end  of  the  debate  was  reached  ;  the  vote  was  taken 
without  dissent,  and  while  the  older  men  would  smile 
with  satisfaction,  the  younger  ones  wondered  in  admi- 
ration.   He  has  disappeared  from  our  midst,  but  the 


MEMOIR. 


213 


trail  of  a  comet  will  radiate  the  moral  firmament  for 
half  a  century. 

The  following  letter  is  from  the  Rev.  O.  H.  Tiffany, 
D.D.  Few  ministers  had  stood  in  so  close  a  relation  to 
Dr.  Durbin  as  the  writer  of  this  letter: 

Once  on  paying  a  visit  to  Chambersburg,  Pa.,  Mr. 
S'eibert,  a  venerable  member  of  our  Church  residing 
there,  took  me  to  see  the  physical  proof  s  of  Dr.  Dur- 
bin's  eloquence.  We  went  to  the  old  brick  church, 
then  standing,  and  he  pointed  out  to  me  the  sockets  of 
the  outside  fastenings  of  the  shutters :  they  were  many 
of  them  deprived  of  the  irons  which  they  formerly 
held,  and  some  of  them  gave  clear  and  unmistakable 
evidences  of  force  and  violence  used  in  their  removal. 
3Ir.  Seibert  then  told  me  the  following  story.  He  said 
that  Dr.  Durbin  preached  there  one  bright  and  sunny 
Sabbath,  when  the  windows  were  all  raised  on  account 
of  the  heat,  and  the  blinds  all  closed  on  account  of  the 
sunshine.  The  doctor  preached  on  "the  coming  of  the 
day  of  judgment,"  and  drew  a  vivid  picture  of  the  con- 
sternation wrought  on  a  city  full  of  people;  he  then 
passed  to  note  the  effect  on  a  village  hamlet,  and  depicted 
with  rare  skill  the  coming  just  at  the  moment  when  an 
aged  man  was  holding  family  prayer,  and  pleading  for 
an  only  son  far  away  from  home  ;  then,  turning  sud- 
denly, he  exclaimed,  "Where  is  that  wandering  boy ? " 
and  traccl  an  imaginary  journey,  till  at  last  he  found 
him  on  a  ship  at  sea,  keeping  his  watch  alone  on  deck. 
As  the  young  man  looks  up  to  the  stars  suddenly  the 
heavens  are  parted  as  a  scroll  ;  the  audience  heard  the 
tearing,  ripping,  of  the  skies  as  a  piece  of  parchment 
cracks  when  it  is  torn,  and  became  violently  agitated. 
No  one  knew  whether  a  passing  cloud  momentarily 
obscured  the  sun  or  not  ;  but  the  whole  assembly  rose 
as  one  man  and  rushed  to  get  out  of  the  building,  paying 
no  regard  to  the  doors,  but  pressing  against  the  closed 
shutters,  which  were  wrenched  off  from  their  fasten- 
ings by  the  hurrying  crowd  ;  the  utmost  consternation 
prevailed,  and  many  persons  were  more  or  less  injured, 
but  none  seriously.    I  once  asked  Dr.  Durbin  about  it, 


214 


JOHX  P.  DUBBIN. 


but  he  would  say  nothing  except  that  "  there  was  some 

excitement." 

When  Dr.  Durbin  returned  from  his  trip  to  the  East 
there  was  a  jrreat  desire  on  the  part  of  the  college  and  the 
citizens  of  Carlisle  to  make  some  fitting  demonstration 
in'his  honor.  I  was  then  a  student  there,  and  had  the 
proud  distinction,  as  I  then  felt  it  to  be,  to  be  placed 
on  the  committee  of  reception.  I  was  on  the  sub-com*- 
mittee  of  illumination,  and  we  succeeded  in  placing 
a  lighted  candle  at  each  window-pane  in  all  the 
windows  of  the  college  buildings.  The  town  was 
alive  with  excitement,  and  on  the  arrival  of  the 
Doctor,  in  the  forepart  of  the  day,  after  he  had 
been  seen  by  the  members  of  his  family,  he  was  told 
something  of  the  plans  for  the  celebration.  He  at  once 
sent  for  me  and  forbade  the  illumination,  on  the  ground 
of  the  danger  to  which  the  buildings  would  be  exposed 
in  case  of  lire.  I  pleaded  with  him  not  to  disappoint 
us  in  our  cherished  plans,  told  him  all  the  money  had 
been  already  spent  for  candles  and  necessary  fixtures, 
and  said  the  disappointment  would  be  intense.  For  a 
long  time  he  would  not  yield,  but  finally  consented,  on 
condition  that  some  person  should  be  placed  at  each 
window  with  a  bucket  of  water,  and  not  to  leave  the 
place  until  all  the  lights  were  out.  Very  many  of  the 
students  were  thus  deprived  of  the  chance  to  greet  the 
Doctor  in  the  reception,  and  grumbled  accordingly ; 
but  we  had  the  illumination  and  counted  it  a  great 
success.  This  will  suggest  the  extreme  diligence  of  the 
Doctor  in  looking  after  details.  No  man  was  ever  more 
scrupulous  in  his  attention  to  the  little  things  which  go 
to  make  up  more  conspicuous  results,  and  no  man  more 
sincerely  in  earnest  in  carrying  out  his  plans  to  success. 

Little  details  sometimes  help  to  depict  a  man.  He 
always  dressed  in  the  morning  for  the  principal  event  of 
the  day;  would  put  on  his  best  suit  at  breakfast-time  if 
he  was  to  wear  it  to  an  evening  entertainment.  So  on 
Sundays  if  he  was  to  preach  anywhere  during  the  day 
he  would  appear  at  morning  prayers  in  the  chapel  in  a 
white  cravat.  On  such  occasions  there  would  be  an 
immense  rush  of  students  to  discover  where  he  was  en- 


MEMO  1H. 


215 


gaged,  and  to  secure  permission  (necessary  in  those  days) 
to  attend.  Closely  watching  him  I  discovered  that  if  he 
was  to  preach  in  the  morning  his  cravat  would  be  nicely 
folded  and  securely  tied  so  as  to  conceal  the  knot,  but 
if  he  was  not  to  preach  until  evening  he  would  have  it 
carelessly  wound  about  his  neck  in  less  fastidious 
fashion.  I  made  use  of  my  observation,  and  seldom 
made  the  mistake  that  others  constantly  made  in  at- 
tempts to  hear  him.  As  I  became  familiar  with  him, 
by  being  employed  to  transcribe  his  journals  when  he 
w;is  preparing  them  for  publication,  he  once,  when  I 
asked  for  the  customary  permission  to  attend  some  other 
than  my  own  church,  said  to  me,  "Tiffany,  how  do  you 
always  manage  to  find  out  when  and  where  I  am  to 
preach  ?  I  wish  you  would  tell  me,  for  I  try  not  to 
have  it  published."  I  said  to  him  :  "  Doctor,  you  always 
tell  me  when  you  are  to  preach,  and  it  is  easy  to  discover 
where."  "  I  tell  you  ! "  he  exclaimed,  with  astonish- 
ment, "  I  tell  you  !  Why,  I  never  told  you  in  my  life, 
and  yet  every-where  I  go  I  always  find  you  there." 
Then  I  told  him  about  his  always  wearing  a  white 
cravat  on  preaching  Sundays  instead  of  the  usual  black 
one;  and  when  he  pushed  me  about  how  I  knew  the 
fact  of  his  evening  and  morning  sermons,  "  because," 
he  said,  "you  never  make  the  mistakes  the  others 
do,"  I  told  him  about  the  tie  of  his  cravat.  He 
refused  to  credit  me  until  Mrs.  Durbin,  being  sum- 
moned to  the  study,  confirmed  my  statement.  He 
merely  said,  "Young  man,  I'll  fix  you  yet."  And  so 
one  Sunday  I  did  miss  hearing  him,  for  he  purposely 
wore  and  preached  in  a  black  handkerchief.  When  he 
gleefully  informed  me  of  it  afterward  I  ventured  to  say  to 
him  that  I  probably  did  not  miss  much,  as  the  sermon 
was  preached  on  false  pretenses  and  with  the  intention 
to  deceive.  He  laughed,  and  snid  I  was  probably  correct. 

He  had  a  curious  way  of  preparing  his  great  ser- 
mons. The  Annual  Conferences  which  he  wTas  called  to 
attend  all  met  in  the  spring;  the  Baltimore  Confer- 
ence usually  in  March,  and  the  others,  following  about 
as  they  now  do.  Some  time  in  January  he  would  begin 
his  preparation  by  going  out  some  Sunday  morning  to 


216 


JOHSr  1\  DUBBIN. 


a  neighboring  town  and  preaching  quietly,  develop- 
ing some  one  idea;  the  next  Sunday  he  would  go  some- 
where else,  and  add  another  thought  to  the  one  previ- 
ously discussed,  and  so  he  would  complete  the  round  of 
ideas  with  a  round  of  separate  sermons;  then  on  the 
Sunday  before  Conference  he  would  arrange  all  the 
effective  parts  of  these  separate  sermons  into  one  logical 
order  and  preach  them  in  Carlisle  ;  the  whole  sermon  of 
the  future  would  be  there,  but  only  in  outline.  The 
altar  was  arranged,  the  sticks  all  laid  for  the  fire,  but 
there  was  little  if  any  heat  ;  but  those  who  heard  hi  in 
the  next  Sunday  at  the  Conference  would  scarcely  be 
able  to  contain  the  tremendous  electric  shocks  of  dis- 
charged power  with  which  the  matured  sermon  was 
preached.  Those  who  never  heard  him  will  probably 
never  hear  his  like,  for  the  day  of  such  magnificent  dis- 
play of  moving,  melting,  persuasive  power  would  seem 
to  have  passed.  He  would  present  the  simplest  truth  as 
if  it  were  a  startling  novelty,  and  so  clothe  it  with  a 
new  force  and  distinctiveness  that  the  hearer  would 
wonder  why  he  never  had  thought  of  it  before  in  such 
relations.    He  had  a  marvelous  power  also  in  prayer. 

I  remember  that  once  in  the  absence  of  the  stationed 
preacher  I  was  appointed  to  conduct  a  series  of  pro- 
tracted meetings  in  the  church,  which  had  been  begun 
with  some  indications  of  good  results,  and  on  one 
Thursday  evening  about  twenty  persons  were  forward 
at  the  altar,  as  penitents,  for  prayers  ;  the  meeting 
seemed  to  have  passed  the  crisis  of  power,  and  I  was 
very  fearful  that  there  would  be  no  conversions  that 
night,  and  felt  terribly  moved  at  the  prospect.  I  ex- 
plained my  apprehension  to  Dr.  Durbin,  and  asked  him 
to  pray.  We  all  knelt  inside  the  chancel-ra^l,  and  lie 
began  in  the  low,  subdued  tone  so  habitual  i^o  him,  to 
intercede  for  those  seeking  forgiveness.  Soon  his  words 
came  more  and  more  calmly,  but  with  more  and  more 
power;  slower  and  slower  he  prayed;  but  there  came 
such  a  divine  presence  that  it  seemed  tangible.  Heaven 
and  earth  seemed  coming  together.  I  felt  oppressed  as 
with  a  weight,  and  prostrated  myself  more  and  more  in 
the  altar  until  the  prayer  closed,  when  I  was  prone  on  my 


MEMOIR. 


face  on  the  floor.  But  during  that  prayer  every  soul  for- 
ward was  powerfully  converted,  and  the  whole  congrega- 
tion was  moved  as  I  never  since  have  known  people  to  be 
moved.  The  meeting  was  dismissed  and  we  all  went  out 
silently.  I  do  not  think  that  there  was  any  interchange 
of  words  except  the  hearty  greeting  of  joy  we  gave  the 
new-born.     Every  one  was  awe-struck  and  kept  silence. 

His  hearty  sympathy  with  young  men  kept  him 
always  fresh,  and  his  earnest  way  of  putting  the  evils 
of  dissipation  before  them  saved  many  a  one  from 
destruction.  He  would  approach  a  man  in  such  a  side- 
way — so  unexpectedly — as  to  disarm  intended  conceal- 
ment. I  remember  that  four  friends  had  been  guilty 
of  some  violation  of  rules,  and  were  to  be  "hauled  up  " 
before  the  faculty,  as  they  supposed,  but  bound  them- 
selves by  the  most  solemn  compact  to  stand  by  each 
other  and  not  reveal  the  delinquents.  I  was  with  them 
at  the  compact,  and  also  at  the  time  when  one  of  them 
was  summoned  to  the  presence.  He  was  the  one  of  all 
the  number  in  whose  bravery  and  persistence  we  had 
the  greatest  confidence,  and  we  waited  hopefully  for 
his  return.  He  was  not  long  gone  from  us,  but  when 
he  returned  all  bathed  in  tears  he  said,  "  Boys,  it's  no 
use ;  the  old  man  got  it  all  out  of  me  in  the  first  five 
minutes."  Durbin  had  first  asked  him  some  side  ques- 
tion which,  though  wisely  planned,  had  no  seeming  re- 
lation to  the  case  on  hand,  and  then  suddenly  turned  on 
him  with  a  remark  so  unexpected  and  astounding  as  to 
throw  him  off  his  guard  and  complete  his  discomfiture. 
As  an  administrator  of  discipline  I  have  never  heard  of 
his  equal.  And  however  severe  his  decisions  every 
body  loved  him,  and  no  fault  was  found  with  him  even 
by  those  most  intimately  affected  by  the  issues.  He 
was  a  most  masterful  college  president. 

The  following  letter  is  from  Rev.  J.  A.  McCauley, 
D.  D.,  who  resigned  the  presidency  of  Dickinson  last 
June,  after  serving  for  sixteen  years. 

It  is  with  diffidence  I  venture  on  personal  impressions 
of  Dr.  Durbin  as  a  college  president.    The  conditions 


218 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


essential  to  discerning  judgment,  competence  and  oppor- 
tunity, were  not,  perhaps,  during  my  college  residence 
sufficiently  mine  to  warrant  confidence  in  such  impres- 
sions. The  first  year  of  my  college  life  happened  to  fall 
in  the  last  of  his  connection  with  the  college,  affording 
thus  but  a  single  year  for  personal  impression  ;  and  as, 
in  the  distribution  of  work  obtaining  then,  first-year  men 
had  but  an  hour  a  week  with  him,  it  was  the  year  of 
least  avail  for  lecture  room  impression,  affording  but  the 
minimum  for  testing  the  touch  of  the  great  teacher. 
For  the  rest — aims  and  methods  of  administration,  ex- 
ecutive .ibility,  disciplinary  tact— a  freshman's  estimate 
would  hardly  pass  for  that  of  a  competent  judge;  were 
little  apt,  indeed,  to  be  discerning  or  just.  Hence  to 
reminiscences  of  him,  or  of  his  performance,  having 
ground  no  more  assuring  than  the  inexperienced  and 
inopportune  conditions  of  this  association,  little  value 
could  attach.  The  occupance,  however,  through  six- 
teen years,  of  the  position  he  so  ably  filled  has  had  the 
effect  largely  to  supplement  these  deficiencies — to  inter- 
pret and  verify  reminiscence — has  ministered  opportu- 
nities for  noting  his  impression  on  the  organism  of  the 
college,  and,  as  I  may  claim,  a  measure  of  competence 
to  estimate  the  work  which  lias  won  for  him  enduring 
place  among  the  greatest  educators  of  his  time.  The 
tradition  of  him  which  lingers  here  as  the  ideal  pres- 
ident has  assuredly  less  of  exaggeration  than  com- 
monly attaches  to  traditions.  As  this  judgment  can 
derive  warrant  only  from  his  work,  these  lines  have  the 
aim  of  tracing  these  memories  in  the  sobering  light  of 
experiences  and  responsibilities  similar  to  his. 

Had  it  been  his  part,  on  coming  to  Carlisle,  to  lay 
new  foundations — to  plan  as  well  as  build — that  mar- 
velous organizing  faculty  from  which  the  Church  in 
after  years  so  greatly  profited  would  doubtless  have 
had  earlier  exhibition.  As  it  was,  the  college  had  been 
half  a  century  in  operation  at  his  accession  to  the  presi- 
dency. Charter  and  statutes  both  were  old.  Around 
it,  moreover,  had  grown  a  net-work  of  custom  and  tra- 
dition more  intractable,  as  more  exacting  and  impe- 
rious, than  written  codes.    The  question,  then,  that 


MEMOIR. 


219 


fronted  him  was  not  of  working  as  lie  wished,  but  as, 
under  this  environment,  he  might.  Inheriting  the  labors 
of  distinguished  predecessors,  and  girt  about  with  in- 
fluences of  inveterate  prescription,  it  was  unavoidable 
that  this  environment  should  largely  influence,  if  not 
determine,  the  course  he  must  pursue.  The  task  im- 
posed by  his  office  was,  therefore,  to  modify  and  judi- 
ciously adapt  existing  provisions  10  the  altered,  condi- 
ditions  created  by  the  transfer  of  the  college  to  its  new 
control.  That  the  Conferences  assuming  its  patronage 
were  fortunate  in  having  this  work  committed  to  him 
is  unquestionable.  With  a  distinct  perception  and  a 
thorough  comprehension  of  the  problem  demanding  so- 
lution, he  gave  himself  thereto  with  a  single  purpose  and 
a  practical  wisdom  rarely  excelled.  With  strong  views 
of  prerogative  the  founders  of  Dickinson  had,  by  char- 
ter provision,  reserved  to  themselves  ultimate  authority 
in  all  that  related  to  its  management,  including  even 
the  penalties  of  discipline.  Untold  evil  had  come  of 
this.  At  times  in  the  history  of  the  college  friction 
and  collision  between  the  boards  of  instruction  and  of 
control  had  led  to  crimination  and  recrimination,  not 
only  subversive  of  college  order,  but  even  sometimes  of 
the  peace  of  the  community.  One  of  the  first  cares  of 
the  new  president  was,  therefore,  to  secure  by  legisla- 
tive enactment  the  remedy  of  this  evil.  The  amended 
charter  vests  discipline  wholly  in  the  faculty,  reserving 
to  trustees  appellate  jurisdiction  in  cases  only  of  expul- 
sion. The  cure  was  complete  and  final.  The  bitter 
stream  was  dried  at  once,  and  its  existence  even  has 
ceased  to  be  remembered. 

When  Durbin  came  to  organize  the  new  venture,  that 
knowledge  of  men  for  which  he  was  famed,  stood  him 
in  as  good  stead  as  in  any  need  of  his  after  career.  In 
the  constitution  of  the  faculty  which  so  grandly 
wrought  with  him  this  intuitive  discernment  of  men 
was  especially  conspicuous.  Were  his  penetration  with- 
out other  witness,  his  discovery  and  selection,  one  by 
one,  of  the  notable  men  who  took  the  chairs  at  Dickin- 
son render  it  incapable  of  question.  Composed  of  men 
mostly  young,   with  reputations   yet  to  make,  and, 


220 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


thougn  dissimilar,  without  exception  able,  and  growing 
with  their  work,  they  proved  a  teaching  and  disciplin- 
ary force  of  unsurpassed  ability.  Under  their  impulse 
the  college  speedily  advanced  to  a  reputation  for  schol- 
arship and  efficiency  which  stirred  the  admiration  of 
the  Church,  and  gathered  to  it  the  enthusiastic  interest 
of  its  patronizing  territory.  Memory  lingers  fondly 
around  these  dear  names,  from  which  the  lapse  of  years 
has  taken  nothing  of  youthful  admiration.  Though 
asked  for  reminiscences  of  the  president  alone,  so  large 
was  their  ministry  to  his  success  that  mention  at  lea>t 
with  him  is  always  their  due  ;  all,  now,  among  the 
crowned  !  Merritt  Caldwell,  oldest  in  years  and  least 
a  novice  in  teaching,  of  balanced  faculties,  imperturba- 
ble composure,  a  very  Rhadamanthus  in  equity,  was  a 
careful,  patient,  and  successful  teacher.  Robert  Emory, 
himself  just  from  college,  and  but  twenty  years  of  age, 
took  the  chair  of  languages,  and,  except  a  brief  period 
of  pastoral  service,  gave  the  whole  of  his  working  life 
to  Dickinson — the  closing  years  in  guiding  the  helm. 
Of  faculties,  analytic  and  synthetic,  marvelously  keen 
and  strong,  of  executive  ability  versatile  and  great, 
there  was  in  every  sphere  in  which  he  wrought  the 
demonstration  of  ability  entitling  him  to  foremost  rank 
in  each.  When  Dr.  Durbin  left  there  was  unanimity  in 
thinking  him  the  fittest  man  to  take  his  place.  At  the 
early  age  of  thirty-four  he  passed  away,  with  the  im- 
pression widely  made  that,  if  he  left  an  equal,  he  left 
no  superior  in  the  Church.  John  McClintock  and 
William  Henry  Allen,  the  remaining  two,  of  whom  only 
I  venture  a  word,  though  in  the  main  contrasted  men 
were  yet  in  much  alike.  Both  were  men  of  genial, 
kindly  nature,  urbane,  complaisant,  and  of  aptitudes 
and  requisites  for  easy  and  effective  teaching.  Per- 
haps no  single  statement  would  better  describe  what 
then  seemed  most  notable  in  Professor  McClintock  than 
to  say  that  he  united  almost  electrical  celerity  of  men- 
tal action  with  exceptional  power  of  continuous  appli- 
cation. He  could  study  hard  and  long,  and  with  match- 
less rapidity.  Hence,  though  but  in  youth,  his  acquisi- 
tions were  extensive  and  minute,  and  thoroughly  pos- 


MEMOIR. 


221 


sessed.  Of  all  the  faculty  he  was,  perhaps,  the  most 
magnetic  and  inspiring.  If  as  an  instructor  there  was 
in  him  any  thing,  I  will  not  say  to  fault,  but  to  wish 
different,  it  was  that  his  own  intellectual  quickness, 
coupled  with  a  nature  bordering  on  the  impulsive,  ren- 
dered him,  under  special  provocation,  a  trifle  impatient 
with  those  whom  indolence  or  lack  of  aptitude  caused 
to  grope  or  stumble.  For  myself  it  is  a  pleasure  to  re- 
cord that,  while  consciously  a  debtor  to  all  the  noble 
men  composing  that  faculty,  the  best  fruits  of  college 
life  were  gained  through  his  assistance.  Professor  Al- 
len, in  his  early  prime  enthusiastic,  keeping  himself 
abreast  with  current  achievement  in  every  branch  of 
natural  science,  was  an  equal  master  in  his  department. 

Such  were  the  men  who,  under  their  great  chief, 
made  the  opening  era  of  the  new  regime  illustrious.  It 
was,  indeed,  a  bright  day  for  the  college.  In  the  dawn 
of  a  new  alliance,  ardent  friends  pressing  to  its  side, 
the  pulsing  of  new  life  where  late  was  the  languor  of 
decline,  able  men  in  all  its  chairs,  and  at  its  head  the 
prince  without  a  peer,  it  is  not  without  reason  that  peo- 
ple reckon  that  the  "  golden  age  "  of  Dickinson. 

But,  returning  to  the  president  :  Dr.  Durbin  brought 
to  the  office  some  experience  in  the  work  of  instruc- 
tion, having  been  professor  in  Augusta  College,  Lex- 
ington, Ky.  The  picture  of  him  which  rises  to  me 
through  the  mists  of  more  than  forty  intervening 
years  is  of  an  alert,  solicitous,  enthusiastic  teacher;  of 
one  whose  primal  purpose  wras  to  draw  out — educe 
— what  students  knew  of  the  matter  in  hand  ;  to  assure 
himself  how  thoroughly  it  had  been  grasped  ;  one  in 
whose  presence  deficiency  or  inattention  were  certain 
of  detection ;  whose  rare  power  of  concise  and  lucid 
statement,  of  apt  and  facile  expression,  and  of  abound- 
ing illustration,  served  admirably  for  dispelling  mists 
and  for  making  the  recitation-hour  rich  in  interest  and 
instruction.  While  it  was  his  custom  to  explain  freely, 
and  to  gather  illustrations  from  wide  fields,  he  never 
lost  control  of  the  situation.  Alert,  shrewd,  discerning, 
he  never,  perhaps,  wras  lured  to  wasting  time  by  any 
of  the  artifices  to  which,  in  emergency,  students  some- 


222 


JOHN  P.  D  URBiy. 


times  resort  to  evade  the  testing  of  orderly  recitation. 
While  for  myself  I  would  have  to  say  that,  in  power 
to  inspire — that  contagion  of  activity  which  contact 
imparts — he  was  excelled  by  at  least  t  wo  members  of 
the  faculty,  he  yet  had  this  power  in  high  degree,  and 
had  I  gone  with  him,  as  afterward  with  them,  through 
abstruser  realms,  I  woulcl  not,  perchance,  have  this  to 
say. 

As  executive,  it  is  conceded  that  through  the  twelve 
years  of  his  presidency  he  administered  the  affairs  of 
the  college  with  exceptional  ability  and  with  marvel- 
ous success.  Vigilant,  forbearing,  firm,  he  knew  how  to 
exercise  effective  discipline  with  the  smallest  measure 
of  severity.  Prudent,  discerning,  wise  in  measure,  and 
fertile  in  resource,  and  of  energy  that  rested  only  with 
success,  he  was  peculiarly  fitted  to  grapple  with  the 
difficulties  that  lay  around  the  college  in  its  second 
infancy.  R"ference  was  made  to  his  early  removal  of 
the  organic  bar  to  harmony  between  the  boards.  It  is 
not  known  that,  during  his  protracted  term,  a  shadow 
of  dissension  came  between  himself  and  those  w  ith 
whom  he  wrought.  The  felicity  was  theirs  of  spending 
all  their  strength  in  promotion  of  the  interest  supreme 
in  their  regard. 

But  the  most  availing  force  which  the  new  president 
brought  to  his  office  undoubtedly  was  that  wondrous 
eloquence,  of  which  the  fame  already  filled  the  Church  ; 
and,  in  the  newness  and  urgency  of  the  enterprise,  it 
hardly  admits  of  doubt  that  the  most  availing  service 
rendered  it  by  him  was  his  (Jevotion  of  this  gift  to  the 
pleading  of  its  cause.  So  greatly  did  this  force  minis- 
ter to  the  success  of  his  presidency  and  to  the  enduring 
weal  of  the  college  that,  while  attempting  no  adequate 
analysis  or  description  of  it,  a  word  respecting  it  seems 
called  for. 

Any  just  account  of  Dr.  Purbin's  power  in  the 
pulpit  or  on  the  platform  would  need  to  credit 
much  to  his  knowledge  of  human  nature.  He'  was 
familiar  with  the  easiest  approaches  to  mind  and  heart. 
His  faculties,  moreover,  were  of  a  kind  peculiarly  suited 
to  make  this  knowledge  serve  the  purpose  of  conviction 


MEMOIR. 


223 


and  persuasion.  His  manner  of  conceiving  and  present" 
ing  truth  was  uncommonly  felicitous.  Quick  perception, 
nice  discernment,  skillful  distribution,  taken  with  a 
singular  felicity  of  language  and  of  appropriate  illus- 
tration, enabled  him  so  to  shape  and  clothe  the  truth  he 
was  presenting  that  pleased  attention  and  impression 
were  the  uniform  result.  The  dictum  of  the  ancients 
demanding  emotion  in  the  speaker — si  me  vis  flere, 
flendum  est  tibi  primum — was  instanced  in  him.  At 
times  his  deep  emotion,  flashing  from  look  and  trem- 
bling in  tone,  stirred  and  thrilled  vast  assemblies.  In 
the  earlier  stages  of  discourse  there  was  little  in  his 
manner  to  please  or  impress.  His  voice,  of  tenuous 
tone  and  of  movement  slow  almost  to  drawling,  was  apt 
to  cause  a  feeling  of  disappointment  in  those  who  were 
hearing  him  for  the  first  time  ;  but,  exercised  awhile, 
that  wondrous  voice  acquired  a  power  little  short  of 
fascination.  His  style  was  mainly  conversational,  but 
when  he  wished  to  emphasize  some  truth,  or  to  vent  some 
emotion  with  which  his  whole  being  seemed  aglow,  he 
rose  from  the  colloquial  to  the  highest  order  of  impas- 
sioned speech.  At  such  times  voice  and  eye  and  atti- 
tude were  eloquent  in  a  way  peculiar  to  himself. 
Masses  swayed  under  it  like  trees  in  the  wind.  Certain 
sermons  of  his  early  prime  are  yet,  after  the  lapse  of 
more  than  fifty  years,  spoken  of  as  instances  of  trans- 
porting and  overmastering  power,  with  which  memory 
yields  nothing  to  compare.  This  great  force  he 
wielded  to  the  utmost  for  the  college.  From  platform 
and  pulpit  it  sounded  in  strains  of  convincing  and  per- 
suasive speech,  and  with  marvelous  effect.  Churches 
and  communities  were  stirred.  Preachers  were  moved 
to  zealous  advocacy.  At  family  altars,  as  in  social  and 
public  worship,  prayer  was  made  in  its  behalf  ;  and  it 
was  not  long  till  in  the  great  commanding  centers  of  its 
territory  there  was  earnest  practical  co-operation  in  the 
common  work  of  nurturing  to  strength  this  new  agency  . 
which  the  Chinch  was  preparing  to  assure  its  future. 
Along  with  these  benign  results  bright  minds  in  every 
community  were  stricken  with  desire  to  receive  the 
training  of  the  college.    Though  of  the  things  we  can- 


224 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


not  know,  there  yet  is  reason  to  believe  that  no  achieve- 
ment of  this  honored  servant  of  the  Church  will,  in  the 
final  showing,  transcend  that  wrought  by  him  for  the 
institution  whose  infancy  it  was  his  mission  to  nurture. 

As  Dr.  George  R.  Crooks  found  himself  unable  to 
write  a  letter  for  this  biography,  as  he  had  intended,  he 
kindly  sent  his  Centennial  Oration  on  Dickinson  Col- 
lege, delivered  in  1883.  From  this  we  select  for  our 
use  the  following  eloquent  tribute  to  his  honored  pro- 
fessors, and  pre-eminently  to  Dr.  Durbin  as  the  presi- 
dent : 

Come  to  me,  ye  memories  of  long  past  years !  and 
bring  before  me  again  those  beloved,  those  idolized 
men,  the  members  of  our  first  faculty.  I  see  Emory, 
the  picture  of  manly  vigor,  walking  up  the  chapd'aisle 
and  taking  the  oath  of  office  administered  by  Judge 
Reed.  Durbin,  whose  large,  lustrous  eyes  fascinate  the 
beholder,  reads  once  more  with  slow  and  measured 
accent  the  morning  lesson  from  the  chapel  pulpit  and 
offers  the  simple  prayer  of  childlike  faith  and  trust. 
Caldwell,  the  Christian  Aristides,  tender  and  just,  sits 
again  in  his  chair  and  with  slow  and  hesitating  speech 
unfolds  the  intricacies  of  mathematics  or  clears  up  a 
dark  point  in'  psychology.  McClintoek,  as  radiant  as 
Apollo,  and  as  swift,  too,  as  a  beam  of  light,  amazes  us 
by  the  energy  with  which  he  quickens  our  minds. 
Allen,  massive  in  form  and  solid  as  his  own  New  En- 
gland granite,  moves  among  us  to  show  us  how  tran- 
scendent power  can  be  blended  and  interfused  with  a 
sunny  temper.  But  what  shall  I  say  of  him,  the  man 
of  genius  of  that  brotherhood,  whose  lips  had  been 
touched  with  celestial  fire — orator,  administrator — the 
matchless  John  P.  Durbin?  In  the  class  room  his  con- 
versation was  more  brilliant  than  the  text  which  he  ex- 
plained. His  fertile  and  suggestive  mind  wandered 
from  point  to  point,  and  we  sat  exhilarated  as  new 
vistas  of  truth,  one  after  the  other,  opened  before  us. 
Or  it  is  Sabbath  morning,  and  he  occupies  his  throne, 
the  pulpit.    The  text  is,  "  Wherefore  God  also  hath 


MEMOIR. 


225 


highly  exalted  him^  and  given  him  a  mime  which  is 
above  every  name;"  the  theme,  the  humiliation  and  ex- 
altation of  Christ.  The  first  propositions  are  so  simple 
that  they  seem  to  he  truisms,  the  first  manner  is  so 
didactic  that  but  for  the  composure  of  the  speaker  you 
would  resent  the  attempt  to  fix  your  attention  by  such 
methods.  Statements  are  made  so  obviously  convinc- 
ing that  you  wonder  you  had  never  thought  of  them 
before.  He  holds  you,  and  you  cannot  choose  but  listen. 
All  the  time  the  enchanter  is  weaving  his  spell  about 
you  and  preparing  for  the  triumphant  assertion  of  his 
power.  Suddenly,  as  suddenly  as  the  lightning  flash, 
his  vehemence  and  passion  burst  upon  you.  The  tor- 
rents of:  feeling  which  he  had  until  now  sternly 
repressed  flow  forth  with  irresistible  force.  He  has 
made  no  mistake  ;  he  has  calculated  to  a  nicety  his 
possession  of  your  sympathy,  and  you  are  borne  along 
by  liim  whithersoever  he  will.  His  port  and  bearing 
have  changed  ;  his  manner  is  that  of  one  fully  conscious 
of  mastery  over  the  hearts  of  his  fellows,  and  his  voice, 
vibrant  with  emotion,  searches  all  the  recesses  of  the 
soul.  You  are  absorbed,  captured,  and  when  all  is  over 
you  are  aware  that  for  a  time  you  had  wholly  lost  con- 
sciousness of  yourself. 

It  abates  nothing  from  these  facts  that  Dr.  Durbin's 
power  as  an  orator  declined  after  he  had  committed 
himself  wholly  to  administrative  tasks.  In  his  later 
years  he  lived  among  us  less  as  an  orator  and  more  as 
a  statesman : 

"  "With  shoulders  fit  to  bear 

The  weight  of  mightiest  monarchies." 

He  himself  never  grieved  over  the  change,  and  wel- 
comed the  men  who  increased  in  public  favor  while  he 
decreased  ;  for  he  was  careless  of  fame,  solicitous  only 
to  do  his  appointed  work  thoroughly  well. 
16 


PART  II. 


HOMILETICS  AND  SACRED  ORATORY. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 


His  Eloquence. 

THE  life  of  Dr.  Durbin  is  not  to  be  merely  narrated. 
It  should  be  construed.  We  can  derive  from  it  the 
best  lessons  only  by  an  analysis  of  that  power  that  gave 
him  such  distinction.  He  who  would  adequately  render 
this  service  should  be  the  philosopher,  the  moralist,  and 
the  divine. 

As  in  the  study  of  the  human  system  the  physiol- 
ogist inquires  into  the  origin  and  laws  of  animal  life 
and  learns  the  functions  of  the  tissues  and  organs,  as 
the  anatomist  gives  detail  and  description  of  whatever 
enters  into  the  system,  so  to  find  out  what  there  is  in 
the  physical,  mental,  or  moral  constitution  that  distin- 
guishes one  man  from  another  may  justify  the  Greatest 
effort  of  the  understanding.  If  there  be  underlying  or 
interpenetrating  facts  we  should  search  for  them  as  for 
essential  knowledge. 

In  the  interest  of  homiletics  and  sacred  elcFquence  we 
may  justly  inquire  after  the  elements  of  Dr.  Durbin's 
strength.  From  its  origin  Methodism  had  been  distin- 
guished for  the  ability  and  popularity  of  some  of  its 
preachers.  But  in  the  first  quarter  of  this  century  three 
ministers  arose  who  may  be  denominated  the  triumvirate 
of  eloquence  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church — Henry 
B.  Bascom,  born  in  1796;  John  Summerfield,  born  in 
1798,  and  John  P.  Durbin,  born  in  1800. 

Of  Bascom's  preaching  the  talented  but  erratic  John 
N.  Maffit said  :  "The  model  of  his  sermons  is  not  found 
in  the  libraries  of  the  Old  or  "New  World.  He  is  a  pure 


230 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


original;  his  shining  dims  no  other  star;  he  is  the  soli- 
tary star  that  fills  with  a  flood  of  effulgence  the  skies 
of  his  own  creation."  There  was  majesty  in  his  manner; 
there  was  depth  and  richness  in  his  voice.  His  diction 
dazed  and  his  utterance  awed  men.  No  one  who 
heard  him  in  his  prime  could  fail  to  feel  that  he  was 
an  amazing  speaker — in  his  way  peerless.  But  his  elo- 
quence allowed  no  relief  in  the  progress  of  his  discourse. 
His  address  may  have  seemed  rather  to  the  imagina- 
tion than  to  the  conscience.  In  the  kind,  diversity,  and 
accumulation  of  his  figures  the  hearer  might  sometimes 
be  confused  if  not  confounded.  There  would  have  been 
less  to  perplex  had  the  composition  presented  more 
unity  of  idea,  better  articulations  of  thought,  and  a  more 
easily-recognized  logical  coherence.  A  more  conscious 
"  touch  of  nature  "  would  have  added  to  the  effect. 

Of  John  Summerfield  we  may  speak  in  the  language 
that  Izaak  Walton  employed  to  describe  Dr.  Donne. 
"  He  was  a  preacher  in  earnest — weeping  sometimes  for 
his  auditors,  sometimes  with  them,  always  preaching  to 
himself;  like  an  angel, from  a  cloud  but  in  none;  carry- 
ing some,  as  St.  Paul  was,  to  heaven  in  holy  raptures; 
here  picturing  a  vice  so  as  to  make  it  ugly  to  those 
that  practiced  it,  or  a  virtue  so  as  to  make  it  beloved 
even  by  those  who  loved  it  not;  and  all  this,  with  a  most 
particular  grace  and  an  inexpressible  addition  of  come- 
liness.   His  life  was  a  shining  light." 

Summerfield  blazed  on  the  world  ns  if  by  the  light 
of  his  example  God  would  show  young  men  what  they 
may  be  in  the  pulpit  with  a  consecrated  intellect,  a 
sanctified  spirit,  and  a  soul  in  profoundest  sympathy 
with  His  work.  Rev.  Dr.  G.  W.  Bethune  writes  "of 
the  charm  of  his  seraphic  eloquence,"  and  says,  "  He 
was  the  most  persuasive  preacher  I  ever  heard."  James 
W.  Alexander  regarded  William  Wirt  as  one  of  the 


HIS  ELOQUENCE. 


231 


most  classical  and  brilliant  extemporaneous  orators  in 
America,  but  declares  "  John  Summerfield  was  a  greater 
orator  than  he."  He  asserts  that  "he  was  the  most  en- 
chanting speaker  he  ever  heard ;  "  and  adds,  u  The  charm 
of  his  brilliant  and  pathetic  discourses  will  never  be 
forgotten  by  those  who  heard  him."  lie  had  a  genius 
for  eloquence.  His  heart  was  in  his  genius  for  divine 
subjects,  and  God  filled  and  ruled  his  heart. 

Bishop  Bedell,  in  his  ndmirable  work,  The  Pastor,  p. 
304,  says  of  Summerfield:  "The  tradition  of  his  holy 
humility,  his  loving,  earnest,  quickening  utterances  of 
the  Gospel,  his  soul,  wrapt  in  the  power  of  his  theme, 
thrilling  and  swaying  and  melting  into  passionate  tears 
whole  masses  of  almost  breathless  auditors,  will  live  as 
one  of  the  choicest  memorials  of  the  brightest  days  of 
the  Methodist  Church." 

Bishop  Bascom  lived  till  the  resources  of  his  genius 
were  fully  furnished  to  the  Church — till  its  highest 
honors  crowned  him.    He  died  at  fifty-three. 

Dr.  Durbin  was  spared  to  us  till  his  seventy-sixth  year. 
He  had  time  which  he  grandly  improved  in  revealing 
those  abilities  which  so  eminently  fitted  him  for  the  ex- 
alted spheres  which  he  was  called  to  fill,  and  in  his  pro- 
tracted life  conferred  upon  the  Church  the  benefits  of  his 
wisdom  and  worth  that  only  eternity  will  fully  disclose. 

Between  Bascom  and  Summerfield  there  was  great 
contrast.  Bascom  had  grandeur  and  vehemence.  Sum- 
merfield had  simplicity,  pathos,  and  a  flowing  stream  of 
silvery  eloquence.  Durbin  was  unlike  them  both,  but 
had  some  of  the  elements  of  each.  What  was  said  by 
the  English  poet  Dryden  in  reference  to  Milton,  as  com- 
pared with  Homer  and  Virgil,  might  be  asserted  of  Dur- 
bin as  associated  with  Bascom  and  Summerfield: 

"  The  force  of  Nature  could  no  further  go  ; 
To  make  the  third  she  joined  the  former  two." 


232 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


If  we  speak  of  Dr.  Durbin  in  the  pulpit  as  he  seemed 
we  should  say  he  attempted  nothing  in  the  way  of  elo- 
quence; that  his  single  object  was  to  present  with  sim- 
plicity, directness,  and  persuasive  power  the  message 
that  he  had  received  from  God.  In  the  progress  of  his 
discourse  we  should  be  profoundly  impressed  with  the 
belief  that  nothing  less  than  the  salvation  of  men  would 
satisfy  him.  To  obtain  or  retain  reputation  was  no  part 
of  his  care.  As  he  began  to  address  the  people  there 
was  no  show  of  physical  earnestness;  but  at  no  time 
was  he  aimless. 

An  old  writer  says,  "A  good  orator  should  pierce  the 
ear,  allure  the  eye,  and  invade  the  mind  of  the  hearer." 
All  these  Dr.  Durbin  did.  His  commencement  was  calm 
and  undemonstrative.  His  first  utterances  were  meas- 
ured and  seemed  sluggish,  but  his  sentences  were  fraught 
with  meaning,  his  paragraphs  showed  progress,  and 
when  he  reached  his  theme  the  subject  was  opened, 
lie  could  be  heard  in  all  parts  of  the  house,  and  for 
simplicity  and  precision  of  language  could  be  under- 
stood by  all.  Though  there  was  no  display  there  was 
something  assuring  in  speech  and  manner.  His  concep- 
tions were  clear,  and  in  a  little  time  what  seemed  slug- 
gish disappeared.  Thought  deepened  :ind  broadened. 
Genius  began  to  flash  ;  a  novel  idea  made  its  appear- 
ance. The  hand  was  drawn  from  the  bosom;  the  soul 
was  tender.  Style  was  diversified;  a  beautiful  figure 
was  employed,  and  there  was  no  lack  of  vivacity.  He 
was  felt  to  be  a  fine  teacher,  and  his  resources  enter- 
tained. He  had  pierced  the  ear,  so  it  was  all  attention. 
He  allured  the  eye.  His  audience  saw  in  him  more  than 
an  instructor;  he  pleased.  His  voice,  manner,  spirit, 
showed  he  was  becoming  more  exalted  by  his  theme. 
It  was  as  if  the  hearts  and  minds  of  all  who  heard  were 
in  his  power,  to  be  taken  where  he  would.    Now  he 


HIS  ELOQUENCE. 


233 


painted  a  picture  or  described  a  fact.  It  was  lite-like; 
he  awakened  sympathy  and  was  a  magnet  that  drew. 
There  was  a  charm  in  his  address.  He  kept  his  purpose 
in  view,  himself  out  of  sight. 

He  allured  the  eye,  and  it  was  well  taken;  no  fitter 
object  could  engage  it.  The  eye  is  an  opening  to  the 
heart.  lie  invaded  the  mind  of  the  hearer.  He  con- 
sidered human  passions  and  well  understood  the  avenues 
to  the  soul.  He  comprehended  his  duty  and  performed 
it.  Attention  was  fixed  by  instruction.  Interest  was 
awakened  by  the  force  of  truth.  Impression  was  made 
by  the  power  of  appeal.  Every  thing  contributed  to 
the  end  sought.  He  invaded  the  mind  ;  he  removed  the 
doubts  that  filled  it — conquered  the  prejudices  that  there 
struggled;  found  way  to  the  heart.  It  was  as  if  the 
"house"  was  being  "set  in  order."  He  offered  argu- 
ments that  could  not  be  answered.  He  presented  facts 
that  were  readily  confessed.  He  showred  conclusions 
that  candor  pronounced  just.  The  subject  that  filled 
the  speaker  possessed  the  hearer.  From  the  flaming 
tongue  shot  a  strong  sentence  that  like  a  bolt  went 
crashing  through  a  coat  of  mail  and  pierced  a  mind 
that  was  thought  invulnerable.  So  did  Dr.  Durbin  "  in- 
vade the  mind,"  assailing  it  with  the  heaviest  weapons 
that  logic  can  forge,  assaulting  the  heart  with  facts  that 
no  power  could  repel.  There  was  a  breaking  dowrn  of 
moral  resistance,  and  there  was  no  sanctuary  but  in  sur- 
render. He  was  full  of  his  theme.  His  wife  was  before 
him — by  the  pulpit.  He  did  not  see  her.  He  saw  nothing 
but  subject  and  souls.  In  such  concentration  and  in- 
tensity eloquence  always  resides.  If  he  saw  the  congre- 
gation was  under  the  influence  of  the  word  he  would  not 
lose  his  hold.  He  repeated  ;  he  emphasized ;  he  said 
"one  more  thought" — now  a  "last  word" — and  it  was 
the  longest  in  the  language.    He  wras  like  Queen  Esther, 


234 


JOHN  P.  LURBIX. 


who  ventured  her  own  life  for  her  people,  saying,  "  If  I 
perish,  I  perish."  Then  with  an  earnestness  that  breathed 
her  soul  she  said,  "  We  are  sold  to  be  destroyed — to  be 
slain — to  perish  !  "  Why  this  triplication  ?  Was  not  one 
word,  one  expression,  enough  ?  No,  one  word  would  not 
express  what  her  soul  felt.  Now  redundancy  is  a  merit. 
It  gives  force.  It  is  not  enough  to  say,  "  he  vnll  kill  us." 
The  thought  is  ground  into  her  soul,  and  she  will  grind  it 
into  the  soul  of  the  sovereign.  Noble  woman!  she  had 
an  orator's  spirit.  The  finest  expressions  of  poetry,  the 
most  eloquent  utterances  of  patriotism,  the  noblest 
achievements  of  human  skill,  and  the  most  convincing 
demonstrations  of  philanthropy  and  Christian  devotion 
are  found  in  association  with  self-abnegation.  St.  Paul 
counted  not  his  life  dear  unto  him. 

Quintilian  says  :  "The  orator  must  do  all  not  only  in 
the  best  manner  but  with  the  greatest  ease ;  for  the  ut- 
most power  of  eloquence  will  deserve  no  admiration  if 
unhappy  anxiety  perpetually  attends  it  and  harasses 
and  wears  out  the  orator.  He  that  has  reached  the 
summit  ceases  to  struggle  up  the  steep."    Vol.  ii,  450. 

Ganganelli  (Pope  Clement  XIV)  says  :  "  There  are 
certain  moments  when  great  orators  seem  neither  to  have 
style  nor  words,  lest  the  sublimity  should  be  altered 
by  studied  phrases.  There  are  people  who  put  them- 
selves into  an  alembic  to  be  eloquent,  and  nothing  issues 
from  the  operation  but  forced  conceits  and  bombastic 
phrases.  Whereas,  if  they  would  give  themselves  up 
to  the  energy  of  their  hearts  they  would  have  golden 
tongues."  He  adds,  "  I  find  nothing  but  elegance  in 
almost  all  the  writings  of  the  times,  and  yet  they  are 
very  far  from  being  eloquent."  Quintilian  supposes  of 
one  that  "his  greatest  excellence  is  that  he  has  no 
faults,  and  his  greatest  fault  is  that  he  has  no  excellence. 
Elegance  pleases,  but  eloquence  captivates,  and  when  it 


HIS  ELOQUENCE. 


235 


is  natural  it  amalgamates  itself  with  all  the  beauties  of 
nature  and  genius  to  show  them  in  all  their  luster  and 
according  to  truth." 

Dr.  Durbin  was  now  the  inspired  orator.  Nature, 
under  the  divinest  influences,  pressed  into  the  service 
every  power  tributary  to  the  result.  Gesture  came 
without  call — came  to  assist  or  to  impress  when  words 
sought  an  auxiliary.  We  should  say  he  made  no  gest- 
ures ;  they  made  themselves.  At  first  they  were  few 
and  modest,  and  came  with  such  ease  and  stealth 
as  hardly  to  be  recognized.  They  expressed  emotion 
as  words  conveyed  thought.  In  the  periods  of  his 
highest  excitement  and  grandest  achievement  all  his 
powers  were  vocal.  The  body  was  full  of  tongues, 
and  gesture  was  the  rival  of  speech.  The  finger,  the 
hand,  the  arm,  the  attitude,  as  well  as  the  eye,  com- 
municated, but  each  in  unity  with  the  other,  and  the 
hand  could  not  say  to  the  foot,  "I  have  no  need  of 
thee."  Abbe  Besplas  declares,  "Sweetness,  with  noble 
simplicity,  should  form  the  constant  character  of  dec- 
lamation." Pascal  believed  that  in  gesture  the  motion 
of  the  body  or  its  members  should  help  to  paint  the 
thoughts  of  the  soul,  and  that  the  painting  ought  to  be 
exact. 

Gesture,  with  Dr.  Durbin,  was  unaffected,  appropri- 
ate, inspired,  and  therefore  necessitated.  When  thus  in- 
fluenced, all  his  faculties  waited  on  him.  Memory  came 
as  purveyor  of  the  soul  and  promptly  yielded  her  treas- 
ures. Invention  revealed  its  fruitfulness,  passion  flamed, 
but  left  reason  unharmed.  Logic  took  fire  and  burned 
its  way  through  the  whole  realm  of  thought  ;  every 
faculty  was  alert,  every  force  at  command.  We  saw 
the  man  in  all  the  fullness  of  his  mental  resources.  The 
late  Dr.  Nadal,  after  hearing  Dr.  Durbin  in  one  of  his 
grandest  efforts  to"  preach  the  word,"  said,  "The  spell 


236 


JOHN  P.  TjURBIN. 


of  his  eloquence  remained  on  me,  and  the  very  air  was 
full  of  the  figures  that  he  used,  and  they  gleamed  and 
glowed  with  their  brightness."  The  cyclone  is  not 
more  unlike  the  ordinary  currents  of  the  air ;  the 
earthquake  is  not  more  dissimilar  from  the  uniform 
operation  of  physical  laws  ;  the  ocean,  when  the  tempest 
sweeps  it  and  the  mountain  billows  break  upon  the 
shore,  presents  no  greater  contrast  to  the  serene  surface 
when  it  tempts  children  to  sport  upon  its  waters,  than 
does  the  orator  under  his  high  afflatus  to  the  same 
speaker  when  no  pressure  is  on  him. 

His  eloquence  was  the  soul  in  its  intellectual  culmi- 
nation. It  was  the  high- water  mark  of  the  emotional 
nature.  It  was  the  tidal  wave  of  influence  that  carries 
every  thing  in  its  course.  Rev.  Joseph  Castle,  D.D.,  a 
classic  and  a  critic,  expressed  the  belief  that  Demos- 
thenes was  not  more  eloquent  than,  in  particular  pas- 
sages, was  Dr.  Durbin. 

Between  Dr.  Durbin's  earliest  and  later  ministry 
there  was  difference  in  manner.  We  have  seen  that  at 
the  commencement  of  his  labors  his  vehemence  broke 
him  down  in  six  months;  that  as  professor  in  Augusta 
College  failure  of  health  required  respite  from  his 
duties.  On  coming  East  he  made  it  a  study  to  hus- 
band his  strength  in  the  opening  of  his  discourses.  The 
conversational  speech  that  he  had  learned  in  the  cabins 
of  the  colored  people  now  availed  him,  and  he  acted  on 
the  principle  that  the  conservation  of  his  forces  was 
essential  to  culminating  effect.  His  eloquence,  therefore, 
became  less  pervasive  and  more  concentrated.  His 
greatest  power  might  not  be  found  in  more  than  two 
or  three  passages.  Here,  in  his  grandest  moments,  it 
was  surpassing  eloquence.  At  such  time  he  was  a  law 
to  himself. 

It  was  a  remark  of  Dr.  Lawson,  that  "he  who  is  ani- 


HIS  ELOQUENCE. 


237 


mated  all  the  time  is  not  animated  at  all."  However 
these  statements  may  apply  to  certain  styles  it  is  true 
of  that  which  distinguished  Dr.  Durbin. 

Dr.  Nott,  of  Union  College,  in  his  day  one  of  the 
grandest  pulpit  orators  of  this  land,  laid  it  down  as  a 
fact  not  to  be  disputed,  that  "  No  man  can  be  eloquent 
for  more  than  five  minutes  at  a  time."  We  argue  this 
as  a  philosophical  necessity.  "  All  high  emotions  are 
of  short  duration."  The  influence  upon  the  speaker  or 
hearer  is  not  sustained  for  a  longer  period ;  like 
violent  diseases,  they  cannot  be  both  acute  and  pro- 
tracted. 

For  pungency  or  power  a  well-couched  sentence  can- 
not be  too  brief.  For  pathos  and  moral  grandeur 
what  verse  in  the  Bible  makes  such  an  appeal  as  that 
which  is  shortest — "  Jesus  wept  ?  " 

It  is,  however,  a  mistake  to  suppose  that,  while  the 
effect  of  Dr.  Durbin's  eloquence  was  in  a  short  pas- 
sage, it  derived  none  of  its  influence  from  that  which 
preceded  it.  As  in  painting  there  is  needed  light  and 
shade,  so  the  mind  of  the  hearer  is  prepared  for  the 
greatest  effect  by  that  which  went  before. 

There  was  eloquence  in  stilling  the  thoughts,  in  hold- 
ing the  mind,  in  insinuating  the  truth,  and  in  keeping 
the  soul-  in  a  state  of  moral  receptivity.  The  result 
recognized  was  the  work  of  a  moment,  but  not  the 
preparation. 

For  long  years  General  Newton,  acting  under  the 
authority  of  the  United  States  Government,  was  work- 
ing on  a  reef  of  rocks  at  the  entrance  of  the  New 
York  harbor.  What  he  did  was  out  of  sight.  Many 
were  skeptical  as  to  his  opening  the  passage.  The 
conception  was  formed  ;  the  engineering  was  done  ;  the 
labor  was  over.  When  all  was  ready  the  hour  was 
fixed,  and  at  the  touch  of  an  infant's  finger  there  was 


238 


JOHX  P.  BUR  BIX. 


the  explosion  that  shivered  and  scattered  the  rock5?, 
shook  two  cities,  and  opened  "  Hell  Gate."  It  was  the 
work  of  a  moment,  and  commerce  exulted  in  the  achieve- 
ment. But  for  this  grand  result  preparation  was  an 
imperative  demand. 

Dr.  Archibald  Alexanders  Life,  by  his  own  son,  Dr. 
J.  W.  Alexander,  gives  an  account  of  his  wish  to  know- 
more  of  the  eloquence  of  Patrick  Henry.  He  says  : 
"  When  a  young  man  in  Virginia  I  was  anxious  to  as- 
certain the  true  secret  of  his  power.  One  thing  I  had 
particularly  desired  to  have  decided;  namely,  whether, 
like  a  player,  he  merely  assumed  the  appearance  of 
feeling,  or  whether  it  was  real.  Understanding  that 
Mr.  Henry  was  to  appear  in  the  defense  of  three  men 
charged  with  murder  I  determined  to  seize  the  oppor- 
tunity of  observing  for  myself  the  eloquence  of  this 
extraordinary  orator.  I  obtained  a  place  in  the  court- 
room. The  examination  of  the  witnesses  closed.  It 
was  at  the  twilight  of  evening.  Candles  were  brought 
into  the  court-house.  The  judges  put  it  to  the  option 
of  the  bar  whether  they  would  go  on  with  the  argu- 
ment or  adjourn  until  the  next  day.  The  attorney  of 
the  State,  a  man  of  uncommon  dignity  and  an  accom- 
plished lawyer,  professed  his  willingness  to  proceed 
immediately,  while  the  testimony  was  fresh  in  the  minds 
of  all.  Now,  for  the  first  time,  I  heard  Henry.  He 
began  with  declaring  his  willingness  to  proceed  with 
the  trial,  but  added,  1  My  heart  is  so  oppressed  with  the 
weight  of  responsibility  which  rests  upon  me,  having 
the  lives  of  three  fellow-citizens  depending  probably  on 
the  exertions  that  I  may  be  able  to  make  in  their  be- 
half (here  turning  to  the  prisoners  behind  him),  that  I 
do  not  feel  able  to  proceed  to-night.  I  hope  the  court 
will  indulge  me  and  postpone  the  trial  till  the  morning.'" 
Dr.  Alexander  remarks,  "  the  impression  made  by  these 


HIS  ELOQUENCE. 


239 


few  words  was  such  as  I  assure  myself  no  one  can  ever 
conceive  by  seeing  them  in  print.  In  the  countenance, 
action,  and  intonation  of  the  speaker  there  was  expressed 
such  an  intensity  of  feeling  that  all  my  doubts  were 
dispelled.  Never  again  did  I  question  whether  Henry 
felt  or  only  acted  as  feeling."  He  continues,  "  I  ex- 
perienced instantaneous  sympathy  with  him  in  the 
emotions  which  he  expressed,  and  had  no  doubt  the 
same  sympathy  was  felt  by  every  hearer."  The  pro- 
ceedings were  deferred  till  the  next  morning.  He  de- 
clares, "The  speech  that  he  made  was  ingenious;  his 
appeals  were  overwhelming."  In  spite  of  his  better 
judgment  Alexander  confesses  he  was  swayed,  though  he 
could  counteract  the  impression  by  a  moment's  reflection. 
The  illusion  of  his  eloquence  was  complete,  but  nothing 
that  he  ever  heard  so  convinced  him  of  Henry's  powers 
as  the  speech  of  live  minutes  which  he  made  when  he 
requested  that  the  trial  might  be  adjourned  till  the 
next  day.  E.  G.  Parker,  biographer  of  Rufus  Choate, 
said,  "Daniel  Webster  once  in  a  sentence  and  a  look 
crushed  an  hour's  argument"  of  an  adversary. 

But  Dr.  Durbin  was  the  sacred  orator,  and  felt  that 
the  Gospel  is  the  great  commission.  The  object  that 
he  sought,  the  spirit  he  possessed,  and  the  effort  that 
he  made  showed  that  his  eloquence  was  a  "  virtue." 
No  sermon  that  he  published,  however  grand  the 
theme,  or  excellent  the  plan,  or  appropriate  the  dic- 
tion, or  logical  the  reasoning  ;  nothing  that  he  ever 
wrote  or  that  others  can  ever  write  of  him,  will  give 
his  voice  or  exhibit  his  spirit.  Eloquence  cannot  be 
printed.  Like  the  soul,  it  is  never  found  by  dissecting, 
though  that  soul  is  the  immortal  part  of  our  nature 
and  eloquence  is  that  which  gives  immortality  to  the 
man.  The  brain  is  cold,  the  heart  is  still,  and  the 
tongue  is  silent  that  could  express  this  eloquence. 


240 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


No  man  is  eloquent  at  all  times.  Owen  Feltham 
says,  "  He  who  speaks  thus  cannot  speak  thus  always." 
This  statement  applies  alike  to  the  secular  and  sacred 
orator. 

In  1832  the  writer  heard  Henry  B.  Bascom  in 
Smyrna,  Del.  He  preached  on  the  resurrection  of 
Christ.  From  the  first  to  the  last  sentence  it  was  a 
rushing  current,  not  to  say  torrent,  of  magnificent 
speech.  Figure  followed  figure  in  such  quick  suc- 
cession that  in  the  attempt  to  catch  one  we  lost 
another.  The  late  Dr.  J.  B.  Hagany,  of  remarkable 
verbal  memory,  on  hearing  him  said,  he  could  retain  no 
figure  except  the  comfort  of  infidelity  is  "like  a  moon- 
beam playing  upon  a  mountain  of  ice."  Again  we 
heard  Mr.  Bascom  in  1844,  during  the  session  of  the 
General  Conference.  He  had  gone  with  the  late  Dr. 
William  Cooper,  pastor,  to  attend  the  re-opening  of 
Wharton  Street  Church,  Philadelphia.  There  was  every 
thing  in  the  place,  the  period,  and  the  circumstances  to 
induce  the  greatest  effort.  The  congregation  was  from 
all  parts  of  the  city,  and  Bascom  was  at  the  height  of 
his  fame.  But  the  discourse  presented  a  broad  con- 
trast to  the  one  of  1832.  The  multiform  and  multi- 
tudinous figures  of  the  former  had  faded  out,  and  the 
color  and  substance  of  the  thought  did  not  compensate 
their  absence. 

That  holy  man  and  honored  minister  of  Christ,  whom 
the  writer  can  never  name  but  with  profoundest  rever- 
ence as  having  been  the  instrument  of  his  conversion, 
the  late  Rev.  Henry  G.  King,  told  him  the  following 
fact: 

Bascom  and  Summerfield  met  in  Philadelphia.  They 
preached  the  same  Sabbath  ;  Bascom  at  St.  George's, 
in  the  morning,  Summerfield  in  the  old  Academy,  or 
Union,  in  the  afternoon.    Summerfield  heard  Bascom, 


MS  ELOQUENCE. 


241 


and  marveled  at  his  ability.  Summerfi eld's  home  was 
with  the  Rev.  Dr.  Thomas  F.  Sargeant,  who  loved  him 
as  a  son.  While  dining  the  Doctor  said:  "  Well,  John, 
what  did  you  think  of  Mr.  Bascom  ? "  Summerfield 
answered,  with  bated  breath,  "A  wonderful  man, 
Doctor."  The  Doctor  observing  that  Summerfield  was 
not  eating,  said:  "Help  yourself,  John."  "I  will," 
replied  Summerfield.  Again  the  Doctor  said  :  "  Why 
don't  you  eat,  John,  my  boy?"  In  his  guileless  spirit 
he  exclaimed,  "  I  will,  Doctor,  for  spite; "  to  defeat  the 
adversary,  who  whispered,  "  How  can  one  like  you 
preach  after  such  a  man  ?  "  He  went  to  fill  his  appoint- 
ment; but  the  saintly  Summerfield  failed.  The  excite- 
ment of  the  morning,  from  Bascom's  sermon,  was  too 
much  for  mind  and  body. 

When  Gavazzi  made  his  first  appearance  in  this 
country  he  was  an  orator  of  amazing  power.  The 
writer  heard  him  on  his  chosen  theme.  He  spoke 
in  the  largest  hall  in  Philadelphia.  He  was  in  his 
physical  and  mental  prime.  He  had  a  grand  physique; 
his  person  was  tall,  and  his  movement  majestic.  He 
had  a  swarthy  complexion,  black  hair,  an  eagle  eye,  a 
massive  brow,  and  his  features  expressed  intellect. 
His  voice  was  full,  deep,  and  of  great  compass.  His 
spirit  was  buoyant  and  brave.  His  passion  was  like  a 
furnace.  He  had  a  consuming  earnestness.  His  ability 
for  sarcasm  and  ridicule  can  hardly  be  conceived.  His 
derisive  smile  expressed  the  deepest  contempt,  but  his 
scowl  was  vengeance.  The  tragic  and  the  comic  were 
equally  at  his  command.  The  platform  that  he  occu- 
pied was  deep  and  broad  ;  but  the  space  was  not  too 
great  for  his  transitions.  His  attitudes  and  gestures 
knew  no  limits.  He  wore  a  dark  heavy  mantle  that 
was  as  a  Roman  toga,  which,  as  really  as  any  action,  he 
made  to  serve  his  purpose  for  impression.  In  a  moment 
17 


242  JOHN  P.  DURE IX. 

he  would  gather  it  close  to  his  person  and  stand  like  a 
massive  statue  in  disdain  of  danger.  Again,  throwing 
it  out  at  will  he  would  dart  across  the  stage  to  exhibit 
expedition  in  grand  achievements.  And  now  he  would 
so  dispose  of  it  as  to  show  himself  like  a  moving  tower. 
Then  he  would  spread  or  draw  it  about  him  so  as  to 
appear  as  ludicrous  as  desire  determined  or  as  taste 
told.  He  represented  the  Roman  pontiff  as  an  old 
woman,  disabled  and  disfigured  and  humiliated.  There 
was  the  wrinkled  brow,  the  corrugated  cheek,  dishev- 
eled hair  and  anchylosed  limb,  the  man  made  toothless 
by  the  tooth  of  time.  Kneeling  on  the  platform  he  im- 
personated one,  aged  and  broken  down,  crouching  and 
looking  upward  with  hands  clasped  and  eyes  anxious, 
asking  help  for  her  needy  children,  yet  receiving  none, 
and  with  no  device  equal  to  the  demand.  We  certainly 
might  have  looked  for  her  death  before  this  time. 

In  his  mood  and  place  Gavazzi  was  stupendous. 
Every  thing  was  carried  to  the  greatest  height.  Lan- 
guage seemed  made  for  his  lips,  and  it  rang  through 
the  vast  assemblage.  In  voice,  passion,  gesture,  sub- 
ject, all  his  resources  were  brought  out,  and  in  the  on- 
rushing  of  a  mighty  soul  every  tiling  seemed  swept 
before  him.    Such  was  the  Italian  priest. 

His  eloquence  in  these  efforts  induced  the  citizens  of 
Philadelphia  to  ask  a  lecture  on  a  popular  subject.  He 
consented.  Again  the  writer  heard  him.  His  fluency 
and  force,  attitude,  gesture,  and  dramatic  power,  every 
thing  that  went  to  make  him  so  mighty  on  his  chosen 
theme,  was  absent.  He  appeared  without  the  toga,  and, 
as  if  his  mantle  was  the  inspiration  of  the  man,  we  saw 
Samson  without  his  locks.  He  was  like  other  men. 
We  could  hardly  have  imagined  one  less  likely  to  fail 
at  such  time  and  place  than  he.  Yet  fail  he  certainly 
did. 


MS  ELOQUENCE. 


243 


Dr.  Durbin  sometimes  failed  to  produce  the  moral 
effect  that  he  justly  desired  and  that  others  expected. 
In  manifest  result  there  would  be  positive  disparity. 
The  most  striking  illustration  of  this  that  the  writer 
has  known  is  given  in  the  letter  of  Dr.  Burch.  This 
difference  none  knew  better  than  Dr.  Durbin.  But  at 
such  time  he  was  one  of  the  best  examples  of  meek 
submission  without  nervous  irritability  or  mental  de- 
pression. The  way  he  received  the  disappointment 
was  a  lesson  to  all  ministers,  as  all  have  a  like  ex- 
perience without  like  philosophy  or  grace.  He  said, 
"  If  the  help  does  not  come,  I  do  not  fret."  A  minister 
does  well  at  such  time  to  ask  himself  :  "  Did  I  make 
necessary  preparation  ?  Did  I  depend  too  much  on 
what  I  had  studied  ?  Was  my  ambition  sanctified  ? 
Did  1  look  to  God?"  A  physical  or  mental  condition, 
a  psychological  cause  for  which  the  preacher  is  not  re- 
sponsible, or  something  in  the  subject  or  occasion  might 
explain  an  apparent  failure.  Nor  is  it  to  be  forgotten 
that  sometimes  the  greatest  visible  success  follows 
painful  experiences.  The  soul  has  thus  been  roused  to 
sublime  effort. 

It  is  just  to  say,  as  far  as  the  observation  of  the  writer 
extended,  and  it  was  over  many  years,  he  never  knew 
Dr.  Durbin  to  fail  to  edify.  He  had  thought,  language, 
logic,  order;  and  in  these  his  profiting  would  appear. 

Dr.  Durbin  was  remarkable  for  his  power  of  emphasis. 
It  was  not  what  one  in  derision  calls  the  "sledge-hammer 
emphasis."  This  excellence  appeared  in  his  reading  in 
public  worship.  But  its  full  force  was  seen  only  when 
he  was  under  the  strongest  impulse.  Then  a  word  was 
a  thought.    That  thought  was  a  photograph  of  the  mind. 

His  pronunciation  of  a  sentence  would  sometimes  pro- 
duce an  amazing  effect.  An  elocutionist  gave  an  example 
of  this  power  in  a  speech  of  Senator  Preston.  It  was  in  the 


244 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


presidential  campaign  of  1840.  Crittenden  had  spoken. 
Webster  had  occupied  about  two  hours,  but  the  people 
were  still  attentive.  Preston  rose  and  uttered  but  the 
name  "  Martin  Van  Buren  !  "  This  he  thrice  did  ;  the 
first  time  with  the  accent  of  incredulity.  The  people 
shouted.  The  second  time  with  an  accent  of  scorn. 
The  people  stormed.  But  when  the  third  time  he  ex- 
claimed, "Martin  Van  Buren!  "  with  an  accent  of  con- 
tempt, the  vast  assembly  was  wild.  They  clapped,  they 
stamped,  they  threw  their  hats  into  the  air,  and  were 
at  a  loss  for  any  adequate  demonstration.  It  was  cli- 
max on  a  word.  David  Garrick,  who  would  give  so  many 
pounds  to  pronounce  "  O  "  like  Whitefield,  understood 
this  power.  Who  that  ever  heard  him  can  forget  the 
"Ah  me!"  of  Dr.  A.  L.  P.  Greet.  ? 

If  we  were  asked,  was  Dr.  Durbin  an  artist  ?  we  might 
answer  Yes,  or  No,  according  to  the  meaning  of  the  in- 
quirer. If  it  is  art  to  retrieve  nature  from  the  artifi- 
cial and  restore  it  to  the  easy,  graceful,  normal  action  ; 
if  when,  by  study,  observation,  and  practice  the  speaker 
has  freed  himself  from  the  trammels  of  custom,  the 
force  of  habit,  and  the  influence  of  false  teachers  ;  if 
when,  by  care  and  the  closest  attention  to  even  minute 
matters  he  secures  to  nature  self-assertion,  so  that  it 
acts  without  restraint  and  assumes  the  attitude  that 
gives  the  liberty  of  genuis,  and  by  voice,  gesture,  lan- 
guage, accent,  emphasis,  pause,  intonation,  inflection, 
and  whatever  tends  to  his  aid  in  the  result  sought, 
producing  an  impression  corresponding  to  nature's  place 
and  power  ;  if  this  be  art,  then  John  P.  Dubin  was  a 
consummate  artist.  If  in  true  art  there  is  no  show  of  the 
artificial,  he  was  such  an  artist.  If  art  is  found  when, 
in  treating  with  men,  there  is  skill  that  compasses  an 
unselfish  and  noble  though  difficult  purpose,  he  was 
an  artist.     If  it  be  declared  "The  art  of  the  art  is 


HIS  ELOQUENCE. 


245 


to  conceal  the  art,"  we  only  say,  If  it  is  nature  to  be 
natural,  he  was  that.  If  it  is  art  to  be  artificial,  that 
he  was  not.  "  Nature,  not  nature's  journeymen,  had 
made  him." 

May  we  not  suppose  this  is  the  attainment  that  Schil- 
ler had  in  mind  when  he  said,  "I  hope  ultimately  to 
advance  so  far  that  art  shall  become  second  nature,  as 
polished  manners  are  to  well-bred  men  ;  then  imagina- 
tion shall  regain  her  former  freedom  and  submit  to  none 
but  voluntary  humiliations  ?  " 

He  had  the  taste  and  skill  that  come  from  culture 
and  that  men  associate  with  art.  He  had  a  quick  per- 
ception of  the  mental  if  not  of  the  moral  state  of  those 
whom  he  addressed.  He  had  an  intellectual  alertness 
that  at  once  adapted  itself  to  the  need  of  the  people. 
He  was  as  prompt  to  execute  as  he  was  quick  to  discern. 
He  was  a  master  in  securing  attention,  in  holding  the 
thought  and  in  impressing  the  minds  of  his  hearers. 
The  means  of  mental  arrest  were  always  at  his  com- 
mand. And  in  this  his  design  was  as  undetected  as  in 
any  thing  he  did.  Without  adopting  the  sensational, 
of  which  he  was  utterly  free,  he  would  give  such  a  turn 
to  thought,  such  a  change  to  language,  or  voice,  or 
manner,  or  by  anecdote  or  brief  narration,  as  at  once 
fixed  the  mind  of  the  hearer  with  a  vivacity  that 
compelled  interest.  If  he  saw  the  congregation  was 
under  the  influence  of  the  word  he  would  not  lose  his 
hold.  He  makes  a  statement,  offers  an  argument,  thinks 
its  full  force  is  not  felt.  He  would  say,  "I  fear  I 
am  not  understood."  Then,  like  a  skillful  rider  who 
reaches  a  chasm  that  the  animal  is  unable  to  bound, 
and  starts  back  to  a  greater  distance  to  add  mo- 
mentum to  speed,  and  then  with  a  leap  passes  it,  so 
did  this  preacher,  by  device  to  which  his  ingenuity  was 
always  equal,  compass  his  end  and  "  go  on  his  way  re- 


246 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


joicing."  The  fact  was  felt,  the  argument  was  clinched, 
and  the  work  was  done.  A  striking  case  is  given  by 
J.  M.  Phillips,  Esq.,  our  late  Senior  Book  Agent.  On 
a  certain  occasion  Dr.  Durbin  was  making  a  platform 
speech  in  Columbus,  Ohio,  and  giving  statistics  that  the 
report  of  missions  demanded.  He  thought  there  was  a 
listlessness  that  lie  always  tried  to  preclude.  His  array 
of  figures  was  not  the  eloquence  which  they  wanted. 
There  was  no  "  fever  heat."  He  turned  to  the  chair, 
made  a  polite  bow,  and  said,  "When  I  entered  this  Con- 
ference two  days  ago  I  looked  upon  the  faces  of  those 
before  me  and  saw  only  two  of  all  that  were  here  forty 
and  four  years  ago,  when,  a  stripling,  I  joined  the  Con- 
ference. I  felt  lonely;  I  felt  sad."  And  drawing  his 
coat  closer  round  him  he  said,  "  I  felt  like  some  oak 
riven  of  its  branches."  By  this  time,  said  our  in- 
formant, the  house  was  in  tears;  he  then  resumed  his 
subject  with  the  undivided  attention  of  the  people. 
But  he  "  invaded  the  mind  of  the  hearer."  There  was 
an  intelligent  order.  He  would  be  heard,  understood, 
and  felt.  He  preached  for  instruction,  impression,  per- 
suasion. To  this  his  skill,  his  art,  were  directed.  In 
the  plan  of  his  sermons,  in  the  conduct  of  his  discourse, 
in  the  progress  of  his  thought,  in  the  climax  that  he 
reached  there  was  the  art  of  sermonizing  and  the  skill 
of  literary  finish.  In  the  effect  he  was  above  art,  he 
was  beyond  nature,  he  was  a  divine  preacher. 

He  was  an  elocutionist  of  incomparable  merit.  Many 
study  it  ;  he  had  it.  Books  are  written,  lectures  are 
delivered,  professors  are  employed,  and  by  such  at- 
tention as  is  given  many  are  spoiled.  He  was  made  ; 
he  was  an  example  of  the  thing  itself.  In  his  language 
we  see  the  rhetorician,  in  his  arrangement  we  confess 
the  logician;  but  in  his  delivery  we  bend  before  the 
mighty  orator. 


HIS  ELOQUENCE. 


247 


It  was  a  striking  fact,  and  one  of  great  beauty  in  the 
ministry  of  Dr.  Durbin,  that  he  carried  his  hearers  with 
him.  lie  did  not  enter  regions  of  scholarly  thought 
and  metaphysical  discussion  where  they  could  not  follow 
him  ;  he  did  not  "  preach  over  their  heads."  He  kept 
both  head  and  heart  in  view.  Like  the  eagle  that  first 
rises  slowly  from  the  ground,  but  when  fully  on  the 
wing  ascends  with  an  ease,  celerity,  and  strength  that 
show  its  power ;  that  is  never  more  at  home  than 
when  farthest  from  earth,  nearest  the  source  of  light, 
and  basking  in  the  burning  splendors  of  a  meridian  sun, 
so  did  this  sublime  preacher  rise  by  degrees  to  those 
celestial  heights  that  awaken  ecstasy  and  inspire  awe ; 
yet  never  transcending  the  vision  of  those  to  whom  he 
showed  the  path  of  light,  leaving  us  to  rejoice  more  in 
the  inspiration  that  he  imparted  than  to  marvel  at  the 
imperial  soul  that  soared. 


248 


JOHN  P.  LURBIW 


CHAPTER  XV. 
His  Style. 

AN  analysis  of  Dr.  Durbin's  eloquence  requires  us  to 
consider  his  style. 

In  an  orator  every  thing  should  respect  the  end.  As 
thought  is  the  great  means  of  producing  conviction  and 
of  inducing  action,  and  as  language  is  its  vehicle,  it  is 
a  primary  care  of  the  speaker  to  secure  the  best  medium 
for  its  conveyance.  It  should  be  presented  with  least 
fault  and  with  the  greatest  force. 

It  is  impossible  to  tell  the  influence  of  style  as  an 
auxiliary  to  eloquence.  Two  speakers  of  equal  learning 
may  address  an  audience  upon  the  same  subject.  It  is 
alike  familiar  to  both.  They  offer  the  same  fact<,  they 
employ  the  same  arguments.  They  are  anxious  for  the 
same  results;  but  the  language  of  one  is  inaccurate, 
parenthetical,  and  tangled:  that  of  the  other  is  clear, 
definite,  and  to  the  point.  The  words  of  the  one  are 
chosen,  like  arrows,  for  the  mark :  those  of  the  other, 
if  things  so  crooked  can  be  called  arrows,  are  taken 
at  hazard,  and,  if  shot,  are  let  fly  at  random.  Each 
has  words  enough,  but  those  of  the  one  may  be 
uncouth  and  without  order;  those  of  the  other  show 
discipline  and  grace.  The  one  confuses,  the  other  clar- 
ifies. The  one  is  heard  with  pleasure,  the  other  with 
pain.  Style  makes  the  difference.  Solomon  in  his  wis- 
dom as  the  preacher  "  sought  out  acceptable  words." 
Wisdom  still  resides  in  like  selection.  The  language 
is  ample  enough,  the  iuterests  involved  are  great  enough, 


HIS  STYLE. 


249 


and  the  convictions  that  have  constrained  consecration 
to  the  ministry  have  been  profound  enough  to  induce 
necessary  effort  to  secure  the  best  words  to  commend 
the  truth  to  every  man's  intelligence  and  "  conscience 
in  the  sight  of  God." 

Cicero  named  three  things  as  essential  to  successful 
oratory:  1.  That  the  speaker  know  what  to  say.  2. 
That  his  thoughts  be  properly  arranged.  3.  That  he 
employ  the  most  suitable  expressions.  Thus  he  makes 
ability  to  speak  in  the  best  way  the  crowning  qualifica- 
tion. Thought  is  obscure  or  transparent,  languid  or 
nervous,  feeble  or  strong,  as  language  makes  it.  Nor 
must  it  be  forgotten  that  there  is  a  vast  difference  be- 
tween propriety  and  tameness;  between  the  bold  and 
the  reckless;  between  the  elegant  and  the  affected;  be- 
tween the  familiar  and  the  vulgar.  Dr.  E.  T.  Chan- 
ning,  for  thirty  years  professor  of  rhetoric  and  oratory 
in  Harvard  College,  and  not,  therefore,  to  be  suspected 
of  extravagance,  says,  "We  need  not  be  cold  to  be  cor- 
rect, nor  ostentatious  to  be  elegant.  We  may  be  as 
magnificent,  as  vehement  as  our  nature  will  permit  or 
allow  us  to  be,  and  all  the  while  violate  no  rule  of  sound 
criticism.  Indeed,  all  the  while  we  owe  our  success  to 
a  careful  observance  of  precision."  Eloquence  eschews 
as  fatal  or  harmful  to  its  purpose  whatever  in  style  di- 
verts or  confuses  the  mind  of  the  hearer.  Its  purpose 
is  not  to  shine,  but  to  impress,  to  convince  and  per- 
suade. As  the  finest  porcelain  cannot  satisfy  hunger, 
so  mere  ornamentation  will  not  avail  for  a  live  intellect 
and  a  conscious  want.  Thought  is  the  aliment  of  the 
mind,  and  it  craves  it.  Eloquence  seeks  by  the  words 
employed  thejnost  perfect  contactof  mind  with  mind. 
It  is  Jjkejje^gSsxLof  jFrjendship  with~ ungloved^ and? 
It  is  one  nature  receiving  the  intelligence,  feeling  the" 
warmth,  and  deriving  some  of  the  vitality  of  another 


250 


JOHX  P.  DURE  IN. 


nature.  It  is  like  two  hemispheres  that,  united,  make 
one  globe,  and  the  circle  is  complete. 

There  is  no  law  for  grandiloquence.  Sound  may 
take  the  place  of  sense.  Intellectual  barrenness  finds 
concealment  in  the  show  and  spread  of  verbal  costume. 
Whenever  expression  is  stronger  than  the  thought  it  is 
bombast.  There  is  a  flashy  style  that  imposes  upon  the 
unthinking,  and  there  are  flowers  that  fall  off  with  shak- 
ing. As  meretricious  attire  gives  neither  symmetry  to  the 
form  nor  beauty  to  the  feature,  so  the  ornament  that 
adds  nothing  is  worth  nothing.  The  shadow  is  some- 
times longer  and  always  thinner  than  the  substance.  A 
lexicon  cannot  make  mind,  and  "the  mind's  the  standard 
of  the  man." 

Dr.  Durbin  was  a  preacher  of  great  power  in  illus- 
tration. 

He  thought,  with  Thomas  Fuller,  that  if  "reasons  are 
the  pillars  that  sustain  the  temple  of  Christianity,  illus- 
trations are  the  windows  to  let  in  the  light."  These 
"  windows  "  he  sometimes  made  very  large,  and  was  care- 
ful not  to  stain  them.  Whatever  taste  might  prompt 
in  relation  to  "a  dim  light"  that  falls  on  the  "lon^ 
drawn  aisle,"  he  desired  that  the  light  that  falls  upon 
the  intellect  should  be  as  bright  as  the  sun,  and,  like 
that,  seen  without  effort.  His  illustrations  were  con- 
fined to  no  department  of  thought.  They  might  be 
from  art  or  science,  from  history,  sacred  or  profane, 
from  nature,  from  the  commonplaces  of  life,  or  from 
the  classics.  The  Bible  was  to  him  a  rich  and  never- 
failing  supply.  But  knowledge  of  what  he  selected 
gave  him  skill,  and  he  used  art  like  an  artist,  science 
like  a  scientist,  and  history  like  a  historian.  Classics 
he  employed  as  one  who  had  traversed  the  ground. 
After  his  tour  in  Europe  and  Palestine  they  afforded 
such  illustration  as  taste  and  time  suggested. 


HIS  STYLE. 


251 


But,  whatever  the  source,  they  were  to  illustrate  some- 
thing. They  were  not  substitutes  for  necessary  matter. 
That  was  a  keen  criticism  by  an  intelligent  Christian 
lady,  who,  when  speaking  of  a  difference  in  the  min- 
istry of  great  preachers  that  she  heard  abroad  and 
some  that  she  heard  at  home,  said,  "  Foreign  preachers 
preached  the  Gospel  and  illustrated  it  by  science,  but 
that  those  alluded  to  at  home  preached  science  and 
illustrated  it  by  the  Gospel."  If  this  were  true  of  any, 
the  charge  did  not  lie  against  Dr.  Durbin.  '  He  preached 
"  the  word,"  and  by  illustration  concentrated. the  beams 
of  his  intelligence  upon  it. 

We  reduce  his  style  to  three  descriptions  that  were 
used  as  best  served  his  purpose. 

1.  The  Plain. — This  is  simple,  familiar,  direct,  and 
unadorned.  Its  aim  is  not  so  much  to  impress  as  to 
enlighten.  It  is  much  as  men  talk  on  ordinary  affairs. 
The  language  is  pure,  and  gives  no  offense  to  the  most 
cultivated.  Many  sound  discourses  are  preached  and 
published  that  from  first  to  last  show  no  other  style. 
This  is  what  we  may  suppose  Mr.  Wesley  meant  when 
he  wrote,  "  Only  let  your  language  be  plain,  proper, 
and  clear,  and  it  is  enough.; "  yet  in  Mr.  Wesley  we 
have  every  style  that  we  notice  in  Dr.  Durbin. 

2.  The  Animated. — Dr.  Durbin  showed  progress  in 
style  as  well  as  in  thought.  As,  therefore,  the  magni- 
tude and  interest  of  a  subject  increased  and  the  faculties 
found  fuller  play,  his  effort  was  to  fasten  the  truth  that 
had  been  only  communicated.  Style  assimilated.  Pe- 
riods presented  greater  smoothness  and  dignity;  they 
changed  their  form,  were  inverted,  transposed ;  they 
were  simple,  complex,  or  periodic.  There  were  variety 
and  climax.    Similes  had  place. 

Herbert  Spencer  says,  "  To  have  a  specific  style  is  to 
be  poor  in  speech."    The  gifted  Henry  Ware,  Jr.,  in 


252 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


writing  to  his  brother  William,  says,  "  By  the  way,  why 
won't  you  write  sermons  in  precisely  the  brief,  pithy, 
broken  dialogue  style  of  this  letter  of  yours  ?  It  would 
be  prodigiously  taking  and  lively,  and  it  would  inevi- 
tably do  good  to  your  delivery.  Try  it  in  some  passage 
of  your  next  sermon.  We  want  greater  variety  of  style; 
our  hearers'  minds  want  to  change  their  positions  as 
we  proceed,  and  this  should  be  a  matter  of  calculation 
and  effort  with  us,  just  as  much  as  the  plan  of  the  ser- 
mon. When  we  always  keep  up  the  same  sort  of  talk, 
always  equally  dignified,  solemn,  exact,  no  wonder  peo- 
ple gape  and  think  it  a  long  half  hour.  A  really  excited 
extemporaneous  actor  does  not  do  this.  He  changes  his 
key,  goes  quick,  then  slow,  asks  questions,  answers  them, 
exclaims,  reiterates,  speaks  by  hints,  by  short  sentences, 
by  single  words;  and  through  this  variety  not  only  sus- 
tains but  increases  attention  and  the  interest.  Pas- 
sages drawn  up  like  your  letter,  thrown  in  toward  the 
close  of  a  sermon,  would  electrify." — Life  of  H.  Ware, 
Jr.,  i,  137.  Thus  wrote  one  of  the  most  brilliant  and 
eloquent  Unitarian  divines.  Was  there  ever  better 
illustration  of  the  force  of  his  remarks  than  was  fur- 
nished in  the  ministry  of  our  early  Methodist  preach- 
ers ?  By  statement,  by  argument,  by  interrogation,  by 
evolving  a  thought,  and  in  repetition  presenting  it  in 
different  forms  and  various  aspects,  as  the  skilled  advo- 
cate does  before  the  jury  till  he  has  fixed  it  in  the  mind 
least  receptive,  so  did  the  Methodist  preacher  sink  it 
into  the  heart  of  the  hearer.  John  P.  Durbin  grew  up 
under  the  labors  of  such  men.  He  was  a  careful  ob- 
server. The  Methodist  preachers  seemed  to  be  "  turning 
the  world  upside  down,"  and  he  desired  to  have  a  hand 
at  the  lever.  Quick  to  perceive,  intelligent  to  appre- 
ciate, and  wise  to  adopt  the  most  efficient  means,  he 
imbibed  the  spirit  and  sought  the  power  of  our  fathers. 


# 

HIS  STYLE.  253 

He  was  not  nn  inapt  student  of  the  facts,  nor  an  unsuc- 
cessful laborer  for  the  results. 

3.  The  Sublime  style. — Suitable  and  necessary  as  is 
the  plain  style  for  its  purpose;  excellent  as  is  the  ani- 
mated for  setting  forth  divine  truth  in  its  nature,  beauty, 
and  claim ;  positive  and  manifest  as  is  its  influence 
in  fixing  attention  and  winning  the  regard  of  men;  ex- 
alted eloquence  is  never  attained  till  such  emotion  is 
awakened  and  such  passion  is  kindled  as  compel  a 
higher  style.  As  language  is  to  express  the  heart  as 
well  as  the  intellect  of  the  speaker,  and  is  to  reach  both 
in  the  hearer,  the  orator  should  realize  that  he  must 
not  have  the  vehicle  merely  for  his  thought,  but  for  his 
soul. 

In  the  fullness  of  his  matter,  in  the  outgushing  of 
his  speech,  in  the  celerity  and  vigor  of  his  mental 
movement,  in  the  strength  of  his  convictions,  in  the 
intensity  of  his  desire  to  compass  his  end  impelling 
to  every  means  to  secure  his  object,  he  presses  on  irre- 
spective of  the  length  of  sentence  or  of  any  thing  but 
the  desired  result.  Facts  force  themselves  on  him,  and 
he  notices  them.  Reasons  multiply,  and  he  gives  them. 
Clause  joined  to  clause  and  epithet  added  to  epithet 
give  force  to  the  vast  volume  of  truth ;  the  channel 
widens;  the  current  of  thought  goes  rushing  on  with 
increasing  strength  and  pours  its  fullness  into  the  pe- 
riodic sentence.  The  soul  could  allow  no  arrest.  When 
such  a  sentence  is  not  forced  it  gives  grandeur  to  the 
composition  and  weight  to  the  purpose.  This  in  his 
highest  moods  was  illustrated  by  Dr.  Durbin. 

According  to  Longinus,  "  the  sublime  is  an  image  re- 
flected from  the  inward  greatness  of  the  soul."  Ad- 
dison says,  "  The  sublime  is  from  the  nobleness  of  the 
thoughts,  the  magnificence  of  the  words,  or  the  harmo- 
nious and  lively  turn  of  the  phrase."  Composition, 


254 


% 

JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


therefore,  that  expresses  exalted  conceptions,  profound 
moral  yearnings,  and  unyielding  purpose  to  achieve  all 
that  the  good  of  the  sinner  and  the  glory  of  God  de- 
mand— a  composition  that  is  alike  the  offspring  of  a 
burning  brain  and  of  a  melting  heart — must  be  an 
"  image  reflected  from  the  inward  greatness  of  the 
soul."  It  is  the  soul  shining  on  the  intellect;  the  soul 
speaking  from  the  glowing  tongue;  the  soul  subduing 
all  to  itself.  In  the  moral  world  intensity  is  an  essen- 
tial condition  of  sublimity.  The  soul  in  ecstasy  or  in 
agony  may  exhibit  the  sublime.  When  the  speaker 
feels  as  nearly  as  may  be  the  full  force  of  divine  veri- 
ties sentences  assume  the  greatest  strength,  and  may 
fairly  break  under  the  weight  of  the  thought  they  are 
intended  to  convey,  and  exclamation  takes  their  place. 
Did  not  Thomas  feel  this  pressure  when  he  exclaimed, 
"  My  Lord  and  my  God  !  " 

The  real  Durbin  never  appeared  till  he  reached  such 
eminence.  Here  his  step  was  quick  and  firm  and  un- 
erring ;  here  he  was  at  home  ;  here  he  reveled,  and 
thence  descended  with  a  dignity  equal  to  the  strength 
with  which  he  rose.  In  his  style  there  was  great  contrast. 
In  the  first,  or  plain,  he  talked  and  taught.  In  the  sec- 
ond, or  animated,  he  interested  and  pleased.  In  the 
third,  or  sublime,  he  seized,  held,  and  made  captive. 

While  in  the  first  there  were  those  who  could  have 
left  without  the  sense  of  loss,  in  the  second  the  same 
persons  wTould  have  resisted  an  argument  to  go;  but  in 
the  third  it  was  impossible  to  make  them  stir.  They 
who  at  the  beginning  were  indifferent  became  charmed; 
those  who  were  interested  are  now  in  transport.  Now 
the  pulpit  is  the  only  power.  Time  is  nothing  but  as 
it  allows  the  hearer  to  drink  in  the  word  and  imbibe 
the  spirit  of  the  speaker.  As  in  the  seven  prismatic 
colors  we  have  all  the  diversity  of  light  and  shade — 


HIS  STYLE.  255 

every  tinge  and  tint,- in  nature  and  in  art — so  in  these 
three  styles  we  have  the  force,  the  finish,  and  the  fire  of 
the  mightiest  orator.  As  in  the  combination  of  the 
twenty-six  letters  of  our  alphabet  we  form  all  the 
words  of  the  lexicon,  and  from  these  present  the  law 
of  Sinai,  the  utterances  of  Pentecost,  and  the  Sermon 
of  our  Lord,  so  from  these  three  styles  we  have  all  the 
wealth  of  literature,  whether  sacred  or  profane. 

TLie  foundation  of  appropriate  style  is  sound  sense. 
Intelligence  measures  thought.  Judgment  weighs 
words.  Skill  adapts  one  to  the  other.  Dr.  Durbin's  style 
had  perspicuity  and  precision,  beauty  and  elevation, 
variety  and  force.  May  we  not  assume  for  style  as  for 
eloquence  what  the  philosopher  says  of  matter :  "  It  is 
capable  of  receiving  all  manner  of  forms  ?  " 

In  Durbin  there  was  no  dead  level.  Now  it  might  be 
close  and  exact,  as  he  was  calm  ;  if  he  were  vehement", 
copious  and  diffuse.  His  words  expressed  beauty  of 
conception,  breadth  of  knowledge,  intensity  of  spirit, 
and  grandeur  of  thought.  He  understood  "  how  forci- 
ble are  right  words."  He  knew  that  they  may  carry 
frost  or  fire;  that  they  may  congeal  or  melt;  that  they 
may  paralyze  or  electrify.  He  had  seen  words  fall  like  + 
snow-flakes  or  as  the  crushing  aerolite.  Though  not 
lavish  with  language  there  was  no  paucity.  He  had  all 
that  rhetoric  asks  or  eloquence  demands.  He  had  a 
word  for  every  thought,  and  a  thought  for  every  emo- 
tion. He  could  address  himself  to  every  case  and  ques- 
tion, and  with  style  suitable  to  each.  He  could  be  as 
simple,  direct,  and  home-like  as  condition  required. 
He  knew  the  pangs  of  penitence,  and  how  to  describe 
them;  the  joy  of  pardon,  and  in  what  way  to  express 
it.  He  made  faith  easy  and  holiness  a  ready  attain- 
ment, and  all  in  language  that  a  wayfaring  man  would 
understand  and  approve.    With  what  vivid  colors  did 


258 


JOHX  P.  DUBBIN. 


he  show  the  dying  sinner  !  W%o  ever  presented  the 
departing  Christian  in  words  better  calculated  to  induce 
every  man  to  say,  "  Let  me  die  the  death  of  the  right- 
eous?" 

There  was  sublimity  in  his  simplicity,  for  it  set  forth 
great  facts.  There  was  simplicity  in  his  sublimity,  as 
all  was  natural  and  just. 

The  last  century  gave  to  English  literature  two  men, 
Samuel  Johnson  and  Joseph  Addison.  They  were 
princes  in  their  places.  Johnson's  style  has  made  that 
of  many.  It  has  fullness  and  grandeur.  Addison's 
taste  has  told  on  others,  who  have  assimilated  to  his 
style.  It  has  purity  and  precision.  Each  of  these  great 
writers  has  had  his  critics;  both  have  their  merits  un- 
impaired. Fashion  is  found  in  language  as  in  dress. 
Time  modifies  estimates.  In  Bascom  there  was  more 
*of  Johnson  than  of  Addison  :  in  Durbin,  Addison  pre- 
dominated; but  as  a  rhetorician  he  knew  all  styles  and 
could  command  any.  He  adopted  for  the  time  that 
which  best  suited  his  purpose,  but  believed,  with  Seneca, 
that  "  fit  words  are  better  than  fine  ones."  But  the 
man  dwelt  in  his  style  as  "  Uriel  in  the  sun." 


DRAMATIC  rOWEIi,  VOICE,  UNCTION. 


257 


CHAPTER  XVI. 
Imagination,  Dramatic  Power,  Voice,  Unction. 

IN  an  analysis  of  Dr.  Durbin  as  a  sacred  orator  we 
must  consider  the  influence  of  his  imagination,  his 
dramatic  power,  his  voice,  and  the  divine  unction. 

In  popular  and  powerful  address  we  may  uniformly 
trace  the  influence  of  imagination.  The  discourse  in 
which  it  predominates  is  wanting  in  moral  weight,  but 
the  orator  can  neither  doubt  nor  decline  its  advantages. 
A  disordered  imagination  harms  by  its  fantastic  exhibi- 
tions; but  a  sound  one  elevates  thought,  imparts  inter- 
est, and  impresses  truth.  Logic  is  necessary  for  order 
and  conviction.  For  instruction  didactic  speech  is  an 
imperative  demand.  Familiar  narrative,  facts  of  his- 
tory, and  principles  of  science  afford  lessons  of  wisdom. 
But  imagination  is  like  an  added  sense — a  sense  indeed 
comprehending  in  its  use  the  other  senses,  but  in  its  ac- 
tion transcending  them  all.  It  is  based  on  observation, 
improved  by  culture  and  constrained  by  emotion.  It 
takes  in  more  than  the  eye  hath  seen,  or' the  ear  hath 
heard,  or  the  hand  hath  handled.  It  combines  and  cre- 
ates; it 

"  Bodies  forth 
The  form  of  things  unknown." 

The  orator,  like  the  poet,  sees  the  possible  as  well  as  the 
certain.  The  most  logical  and  majestic  minds  give  force 
to  their  reasonings  and  sublimity  to  their  conceptions 
by  the  use  of  this  faculty.  Without  it  a  speaker  may 
argue  with  clearness;  may  communicate  knowledge  of 
18 


258 


JOHN  P.  DURB1X. 


great  value;  may  present  conclusions  that  none  can  dis- 
pute ;  may  obtain  the  reputation  of  a  strong  thinker 
and  profound  divine;  and  in  some  departments  of  study 
there  may  be  no  need  of  imagination.  Science  gives 
demonstrations.  But  the  pulpit  appeals  to  every  sus- 
ceptibility of  man  by  every  faculty  and  force  at  the 
preacher's  command.  It  may  sometimes  be  justly  as- 
serted that  there  is  too  much  imagination  in  the  sermon. 
It  may  likewise  be  said  with  equal  truth  there  is  too 
much  reasoning.  It  is  needless  when  things  are  self- 
evident.  There  is  too  much  show  of  exposition;  that 
which  by  a  few  words  is  made  clear  by  many  becomes 
cloudy. 

There  are  those  who  speak  of  the  preacher  of  imag- 
ination as  if  this  were  his  only  faculty.  Was  it  so  with 
Latimer,  with  Jeremy  Taylor,  with  Henry  Melville? 
Do  we  associate  great  imagination  with  a  little  mind  ? 
Do  not  the  ablest  thinkers  often  appear  to  greatest  ad- 
vantage, and  make  the  profoundest  impression,  when 
imagination  asserts  its  power?  Milton  is  immortal  in 
his  works  of  imagination.  But  was  he  not  one  of  the 
strongest  prose  writers  of  his  age?  The  fathers  «f  the 
devolution  were  not  men  of  small  intellect.  But  in 
the  most  powerful  words  they  uttered  we  see  their 
imagination.  James  Otis  exclaims,  "England  may  as 
well  dam  up  the  waters  of  the  Nile  with  bulrushes  as 
fetter  the  steps  of  freedom,  more  proud  and  firm  in 
this  youthful  land  than  when  she  treads  the  sequestered 
glens  of  Scotland  or  couches  herself  among  the  mag- 
nificent mountains  of  Switzerland." 

Xot  less  does  Patrick  Henry  command  us  when  he 
declares,  "  Our  chains  are  forged;  their  chinking  may  be 
heard  on  the  plains  of  Boston."  And,  when  love  of  the 
whole  country  prompted  the  reply  of  Webster  to  Hayne 
in  the  American  Congress  —  words  that  will  be  our 


DRAMATIC  POWER,  VOICE,  UNCTION. 


259 


glory  while  the  republic  lasts — the  words  of  the  consti- 
tutional lawyer,  of  the  mighty  statesman,  the  words 
that  childhood  will  be  taught  to  recite  for  coming  gen- 
erations and  that  maturity  and  patriotism  will  not  cease 
to  reproduce,  were  the  utterances  compelled  by  a  flaming 
imagination.  Weighty  as  were  the  principles  he  laid 
down,  solid  as  was  his  reasoning,  it  was  the  climax  of 
power  in  his  speech  as  he  s.iid: 

When  my  eyes  shall  be  turned  to  behold  for  the  last 
tjme  the  sun  in  heaven  may  I  not  see  him  shining  on 
broken  and  dishonored  fragments  of  a  once  glorious 
union;  on  States  dissevered,  discordant,  belligerent;  on 
a  land  rent  with  civil  lends,  or  drenched,  it  may  be,  in 
fraternal  blood  !  Let  their  last  feeble  and  lingering 
glance  rat  her  behold  the  gorgeous  ensign  of  the  republic, 
now  known  and  honored  throughout  the  earth,  still  full 
high  advanced,  its  arms  and  trophies  streaming  in  their 
original  luster,  not  a  stripe  ernsed  or  polluted  norsa  sin- 
gle star  obscured,  bearing  for  its  motto  no  such  miser- 
able interrogatory  as,  "  What  is  all  this  worth?"  nor 
those  other  words  of  delusion  and  folly,  "  Liberty  first 
and  union  afterward;"  but  every-where,  spread  all 
over  in  characters  of  living  light,  blazing  on  all  its  am- 
ple folds  as  they  float  over  the  sea  and  over  the  land 
and  in  every  wind  under  the  whole  heavens,  that  other 
sentiment,  dear  to  every  true  American  heart,  "  Liberty 
and  union,  now  and  ever,  one  and  inseparable." 

But  nowhere  do  we  more  clearly  see  the  use  and 
power  of  this  faculty  than  in  the  "  lively  oracles."  To 
what  part  of  nature  do  they  not  appeal  ?  The  floods  "  lift 
up  their  voice."  Bel  "bows."  Nebo  "  stoops."  "The 
mountains  and  the  hills  break  forth  into  singing,  and  all 
the  trees  of  the  field  clap  their  hands."  The  desert 
blossoms  as  the  rose,  and  instead  of  the  thorn  comes  up 
the  fir-tree.  Of  the  sinner  God  says,  "The  heavens 
shall  reveal  his  iniquities  and  the  earth  shall  rise  up 
against  him."    How  does  imagination  influence  the  ex- 


260 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


pression  of  Isaiah  when  writing  of  the  proud  monarch 
of  Babylon,  who  was  about  to  follow  and  meet  the 
kings  and  oppressors  that  had  gone  before  him  ?  He 
says:  ' '  Hell  from  beneath  is  moved  for  thee  to  meet 
thee  at  thy  coming.  It  stirreth  up  the  dead  for  thee, 
even  all  the  chief  ones  of  the  earth:  it  hath  raised 
from  their  thrones  all  the  kings  of  the  nations."  And 
the  Son  of  God  makes  the  climax  of  his  didactic  teach- 
ing in  his  Sermon  on  the  Mount  in  a  picture  of  the  im- 
agination from  two  builders:  "Whoso  heareth  these 
sayings  of  mine,  and  doeth  them,  I  will  liken  him  unto 
a  wise  man,  which  built  his  house  upon  a  rock;  and  the 
rain  descended,  and  the  floods  came,  and  the  winds  blew, 
and  beat  UDon  that  house;  and  it  fell  not:  for  it  was 
founded  upon  a  rock.  And  every  one  that  heareth  these 
sayings  of  mine,  and  doeth  them  not,  shall  be  likened 
unto  a  foolish  man,  which  built  his  house  upon  the  sandj 
and  the  rain  descended,  and  the  floods  came,  and  the 
winds  blew,  and  beat  upon  that  house;  and  it  fell:  and 
great  was  the  fall  of  it."  How  else  could  this  lesson  be 
so  impressed  ?  How  could  the  incaution,  the  recklessness, 
and  the  ruin  of  the  soul  be  more  forcibly  shown  ? 

We  can  hardly  conceive  of  the  sacred  orator  whose 
mind  and  heart  are  properly  influenced  by  the  great 
realities  of  religion,  and  that  has  some  realization  of 
the  powers  of  the  world  to  come,  without  such  emotion 
as  kindles  imagination  and  constrains  the  figures  that 
most  forcibly  convey  the  absorbing  and  overwhelming 
thought  of  the  speaker. 

David  Hume,  judging  of  the  eloquence  of  the  an- 
cients by  "the  noble  remains  and  the  few  strokes  "that 
have  come  down  to  us,  concludes  they  are  infinitely 
more  sublime  than  English  orators.  As  proof  of  this  he 
refers  to  the  "  noble  apostrophe  of  Demosthenes,"  so 
much  celebrated  by  Quintilian  and  Longinus,  when, 


DRAMA  TIC  POWER,  VOICE,  UNCTION.  261 


justifying  the  unsuccessful  battle  of  Chaeronea,  he  breaks 
out,  "No,  my  fellow-citizens,  no;  you  have  not  erred. 
I  swear  by  the  names  of  the  heroes  who  fought  for  the 
same  cause  in  the  plains  of  Marathon  and  Platca." 
Hume  exclaims,  "  What  noble  art  and  sublime  talents 
are  requisite  to  arrive  by  just  degrees  at  a  sentiment  so 
bold  and  influential."  For  this  he  thinks  the  English 
too  cold.    (3Ioral,  Political,  and  Literary  Essays,  i,  110.) 

But  does  this  apostrophe  transcend  St.  Paul  when  he 
would  inspire  moral  heroism  in  Christians  of  his  day  ? 
He  shows  the  victors  of  faith  in  Hebrews  xi  and  xii. 
There  is  Abel,  the  first  martyr;  Enoch,  the- translated; 
Noah,  saved  from  the  flood;  Abraham,  ready  to  offer  his 
Isaac;  Moses,  forsaking  the  grandeur  and  prospects  of 
an  Eastern  court  to  suffer  affliction  with  the  people  of 
God ;  David,  Samuel,  the  prophets,  and  other  mighty 
men,  who  through  faith  subdued  kingdoms,  wrought 
righteousness,  obtained  promises,  stopped  the  mouths  of 
lions,  quenched  the  violence  of  fire,  escaped  the  edge  of 
the  sword,  out  of  weakness  were  made  strong,  waxed 
valiant  in  fight,  turned  to  flight  the  armies  of  the  aliens; 
women  received  their  dead  raised  to  life  again,  and. 
others  were  tortured,  not  accepting  deliverance,  that 
they  might  obtain  a  better  resurrection.  Did  Demos- 
thenes rise  higher?  What  is  there  in  vision  that  the 
apostle  did  not  command  ?  He  lifts  the  curtain  between 
two  worlds  and  shows  the  cloud  of  witnesses,  the  race 
set  before  the  Christian,  and  Jesus  the  inspiration  and 
the  Judge. 

What  a  prize  !  What  an  assemblage  !  Seers,  patri- 
archs, prophets — the  good  of  all  the  past — looking  from 
the  heights  of  celestial  happiness,  as  if  incapable  of  per- 
fect repose  until  the  struggling  saints  are  crowned.  Is 
the  Grecian  orator  grander  than  the  apostle  of  the 
Gentiles  ?    And  shall  the  successors  of  Paul — men  of 


202 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


the  same  calling,  conviction,  spirit — shall  God's  minis- 
ters, in  the  fire  of  their  zeal,  in  the  subduing  tenderness 
of  their  commission,  be  too  cold  for  apostrophe  or  vision  ? 

Dr.  Durbin  had  an  imperial  imagination,  and  when 
he  gave  it  the  exercise  it  asked,  nature  and  revelation, 
every  thing  within  the  domain  of  thought,  contributed 
to  its  influence.  It  availed  itself  of  objects  of  beauty, 
novelty,  and  grandeur.  It  re-peopled  the  past,  opened 
the  future,  made  the  distant  present  and  the  difficult 
easy.  It  verified  and  vivified  its  possessions  and  its  own 
creations.  There  were  times  when  the  boldest  figures 
seemed  as  real  in  what  they  embodied  as  the  pulpit  where 
the  preacher  stood  or  the  people  whom  he  addressed. 
Then  imagination  made  the  intellectual  canopy  shine 
with  the  stars  that  his  genius  kindled  and  that  his  ardor 
intensified. 

Reason  has  been  called  "  the  master  of  the  mind." 
Imagination,  by  like  authority,  has  been  pronounced  the 
mistress  of  the  intellect.  The  same  has  been  said  of  the 
powers  and  pleasures  of  the  imagination  that  Plato  de- 
clared of  the  soul:  that  they  are  "like  the  harmony  of 
the  harp — invisible,  material  and  divine." 

In  imagination  Dr.  Durbin  saw  the  things  he  showed, 
and  showed  them  as  lie  saw  them.  Who  even  now  fails 
to  see  Sinai  as  he  showed  it  when  he  declared,  "  I  have 
stood  on  the  lightning-scarred  rocks?"  He  said,  "  If  I 
speak  of  a  horse  I  see  him;  "  and  he  did  see  him  in  form 
and  strength.  It  might  be  the  war-horse  of  Job,  his  neck 
clothed  with  thunder,  his  nostrils  terrible,  pawing  in  the 
valley,  going  on  to  meet  the  armed  men,  turning  not  back 
from  the  sword,  heeding  not  the  quiver  rattling  against 
him,  nor  the  glittering  spear  and  shield,  swallowing  the 
ground  wTith  fierceness  and  rage,  smelling  the  battle  afar 
off — the  thunder  of  the  captains  and  the  shouting.  When 
he  spoke  of  the  tabernacle  in  the  wilderness,  or  the  tem- 


DRAMATIC  POWER,  VOICE,  UNCTION. 


263 


pie  at  Jerusalem,  each  appeared  in  its  size,  material, 
adornments,  sacred  emblems,  and  use.  He  made  us  see 
the  person,  the  dress,  the  service  of  the  high-priest,  as 
compared  to  the  appearance  and  functions  of  the  great 
high-priest  of  our  profession.  The  ark  of  the  covenant 
stood  before  us,  and  there  was  the  mercy-seat  and  the 
cherubim,  and  we  learned  much  of  the  sliekinah.  For 
a  time  we  were  in  the  holy  place  of  the  tabernacle  of 
the  Most  High,  "beholding  the  glory  that  excelleth." 

He  did  not  make  drawings  on  the  "  blackboard,"  but 
he  did  on  the  brain,  and  they  were  with  intellectual 
material  that  time  itself  can  hardly  efface.  What  a 
moral  spell  bound  the  people  as  he  showed  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  words,  "  See  that  thou  make  all  things  ac- 
cording to  the  pattern  showed  to  thee  in  the  mount." 
How  imperative  did  he  make  the  demand!  How  need- 
ful the  conformity  urged  !  It  meant  moral  accuracy, 
divine  resemblance,  and  in  ourselves  scriptural  holiness. 
When  he  spoke  of  "the  signs  of  the  times"  they  were 
easily  traced  in  states,  in  sovereigns,  and  in  circum- 
stance. It  was  as  the  "lightning  coming  out  of  the  east 
and  shining  to  the  west."  It  was  a  blaze  across  the 
whole  canopy.  It  was  lightning,  and  nothing  less.  The 
signs  signified  that  God  was  in  them  as  really  as  shadow 
proves  a  substance.  Not  more  truly  did  the  Almighty 
direct  the  moon  when  it  stood  still  in  the  valley  of 
Ajalon,  or  the  sun  when  it  went  back  on  the  dial  of 
Ahaz,  than  he  showed  the  cloud  in  which  were  "showers 
of  blessings"  for  the  mission  field  that  constrained  the 
solicitude  of  Dr.  Durbin. 

In  his  graphic  presentation  of  the  fall  of  man  we 
could  see  "the  living  temple "  in  moral  ruins.  The 
stately  columns  of  holiness  and  happiness  were  thrown 
down.  Decay  had  climbed  over  the  wTalls  and  "abode 
within  its  confines."    Amid  the  dilapidation  that  Isaiah 


264 


JOHN  P.  DURB1N. 


describes  there  were  the  "  cormorant,  the  bittern,  the 
owl,  and  the  raven,"  with  u  the  satyr  crying  to  his  fellow, 
and  the  beasts  of  the  desert  meeting  with  the  wild 
beasts  of  the  island."  Dr.  Durbin  showed  this  ruined 
temple  filled  with  unclean  spirits;  yet  triumphantly  he 
assured  us  that  the  "  Holy  One  of  Israel "  will  "  build 
the  temple  and  bear  the  glory."  It  rose  before  us  "  pol- 
ished after  the  similitude  of  a  palace,"  and  "all  glori- 
ous within."  It  stood  in  strength,  it  towered  in  maj- 
esty. Its  dome  pierced  the  heavens,  and  its  open  door 
invited  from  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe.  The  pil- 
lars that  sustained  it  could  not  be  prostrated  by  the 
convulsions  of  nature  or  impaired  by  the  innovations 
of  time.  Into  this  temple  he  entered  with  reverent 
step  and  careful  survey.  He  approached  its  altar,  felt 
its  fire,  and  flamed  with  the  invitation  for  all  to  enter 
it  and  be  saved. 

The  imagination  of  Dr.  Durbin  was  equal  to  his  men- 
tal demand.  Whether  in  thought  he  ascended  the 
mountains  or  descended  the  vale ;  beheld  the  ocean  in 
its  sublimity  or  the  heavens  in  their  grandeur  ;  whether 
he  pointed  to  paradise  in  its  bloom  or  in  its  blight  ;  a 
deluged  world  or  the  flaming  cities  of  the  plain  ; 
whether  he  looked  upon  Jerusalem  as  the  city  of  the 
great  King,  or  without  one  stone  left  upon  another  ; 
whether  he  spoke  of  the  "great  white  throne"  or  the 
"Lord  Jesus  revealed  from  heaven  with  his  mighty 
angels  in  flaming  fire  taking  vengeance  upon  them 
that  know  not  God,"  or  the  Almighty  gathering  his 
saints  for  eternal  recompense,  he  had  a  verbal  afflu- 
ence that  conveyed  his  thought,  and  a  judgment  that 
kept  this  faculty  within  proper  bounds  and  secured  the 
desired  result. 

Closely  a-sociated  with  imagination  in  its  highest  ef- 
forts was  an  element  that  few  command  and  none  may 


DRAMATIC  POWER,  VOICE,  UNCTION.  2G5 


often  indulge.  It  was  the  dramatic  power.  A  manifest 
attempt  at  this  in  the  pulpit  uniformly  displeases  and 
sometimes  disgusts.  Even  gesture,  when  forced,  offends. 
Aim  at  the  dramatic  may  appear  in  "the  start  theatric," 
and  an  affectation  that  awakens  indignation.  The  dra- 
matic that  is  not  in  harmony  with  gravity  and  warmth 
is  justly  distasteful.  It  is  a  power  only  as  the  offspring 
of  the  occasion,  as  the  exhibition  of  deep  emotion  and 
self-forgetting  earnestness.  It  comes  unsought,  like 
proper  gesture.  It  can  be  good  only  as  it  is  tiue  to 
the  soul.  But  when  a  burning  heart,  with  all  the 
powers  of  the  intellect,  can  so  project  itself,  and  nothing 
is  seen  but  the  force  that  impels,  no  one  may  describe 
the  result.  Tully  speaks  of  an  orator  who  tore  open 
the  bosom  of  his  client  to  show  the  wounds  he  had 
received  for  the  republic.  Patrick  Henry  dropped  on 
his  knees  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Delegates  when 
pleading  for  others  with  a  power  that  was  said  to  be 
"enough  to  soften  rocks  and  bend  the  knotted  oak." 

Time  would  fail  us  to  tell  of*  this  dramatic  power  as 
seen  in  the  ministry  of  the  logical  Ezekiel  Cooper,  the 
eloquent  John  Strange,  and  of  the  magnetic  George  G. 
Cookman. 

The  Rev.  J.  O.  Roberts,  of  Kansas,  writes  :  "Mr. 
Durbin,  when  a  young  man,  preaching  at  a  camp-meet- 
ing on  the  '  Godhead  of  Christ '  was  so  carried  away 
with  his  theme  that  as  he  quoted,  4  This  is  the  true  God 
and  eternal  life,'  as  only  John  Durbin  could  say  it, 
exclaimed,  'If  you  deny  it  take  the  whole  Bible  from 
me.'  At  the  same  moment  a  small  Bible  flew  from  his  1 
hand  into  the  congregation  and  fell  just  at  the  feet  of 
an  unbeliever  in  the  deity  of  Christ."  He  says  the 
effect  was  tremendous.  We  are  sure  that  this  would 
be  a  very  unsafe  thing  for  any  man  unless  it  might  be 
considered  involuntary.    Dr.  Durbin  was  too  much  of 


266 


JUHX  P.  DURBIX. 


a  thinker,  and  too  close  an  observer  of  facts,  not  to 
,  know  what  folly  prompts  and  what  wisdom  and  the 
occasion  permit  and  constrain. 

The  Rev.  J.  H.  Hargis,  D.D.^  writes:  "The  Hon. 
Willard  Sanlsbury,  formerly  member  of  the  United 
States  Senate,  now  chancellor  of  Delaware,  was  a  stu- 
dent under  Dr.  Durbin  at  Dickinson.  A  score  or  more 
years  thereafter  to  a  young  Dickinsonian  Mr.  Saulsbury 
told  of  the  vividness  with  which  President  Durbin,  in 
the  pulpit  of  the  old  Methodist  church  in  Carlisle,  once 
set  forth  the  unprofitable  servant  taken  and  cast  into 
outer  darkness.  Said  the  Senator,  '  So  vivid  was  the 
scene  depicted  by  Durbin  as  he  suited  the  action  to  the 
word  that  I  saw  the  fellow  fall,  and  heard  him  when 
he  dropped.' " 

The  writer  is  indebted  to  the  Rev.  Joseph  Longking 
for  an  illustration  of  this  power  in  Dr.  Durbin's  first 
labors  in  the  East.  It  was  at  an  anniversary  of  the 
Sunday-School  Society,  held  in  Forsyth  Street  Method- 
ist Episcopal  Church.  Mr.  Maftit  had  delivered  a 
characteristic  speech.  Durbin  followed.  When  well 
warmed  with  liis  subject  he  referred  to  the  case  of  the 
young  woman  who  was  the  Sunday-school  teacher  of 
the  afterward  world-famed  Morrison,  the  translator  of 
the  Scriptures  into  the  principal  Chinese  dialect.  As 
he  figured  that  young  lad  and  his  female  teacher  he 
spoke  of  the  deep,  quiet,  unperceived,  but  not  unfelt 
influence  she  had  exerted  on  that  young  mind.  Warm- 
ing still  more  with  his  theme,  he  exclaimed,  "She  did  not 
know  what  a  lion  of  God  she  was  training  !  His  mane 
had  not  yet  grown,  his  paws  had  not  yet  put  on  their 
strength,  nor  his  claws  their  mighty  grip."  Then  draw- 
ing himself  into  a  crouching  attitude  he  suddenly 
sprang  forward,  as  might  a  lion  in  seizing  his  prey,  and, 
grasping  the  Bible,  and  holding  it  aloft,  exclaimed, 


DRAMATIC  POWER,  VOICE,  UXCTIOX. 


"So  he,  Morrison,  raised  a  nation  unto  God/"  The 
effect  was  wonderful.  Some  shouted  hallelujah  ;  some 
clapped  their  hands  ;  some  wept  aloud,  and  others  tried 
in  vain  to  restrain  their  sobs.  Dr.  Longking  adds,  "I 
have  seen  congregations  greatly  moved  .  .  .  but  never 
did  I  see  another  congregation  so  carried  away  as  was 
that  of  Forsyth  Street  that  evening  by  Dr.  Durbin." 
A  striking  illustration  of  this  dramatic  power  is  given 
in  the  letter  of  Dr.  Tiffany. 

In  "  Men  and  Measures  of  Half  a  Century,  by  Hugh 
McCulloch,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  in  the  adminis- 
trations of  Presidents  Lincoln,  Johnson,  and  Arthur," 
that  distinguished  author  speaks  of  Durbin  as  a  man 
of  not  only  large  literary  but  scientific  attainments,  and 
says  :  "  I  was  much  impressed  by  one  of  Dr.  Durbin's  ser- 
mons from  the  text,  \  We  are  fearfully  and  wonderfully 
made;'  in  which  he  presented,  in  a  manner  which  would 
have  done  honor  to  one  who  had  made  the  human  form 
a  life-long  study,  an  argument  in  favor  of  divine  creat- 
ive power  as  illustrated  in  man's  physical  mechanism. 
One  who  listened  to  that  sermon  said  to  me  that  as 
Mr.  Durbin,  with  a  finger  of  his  right  hand  upon  his 
left  wrist,  described  the  regular  but  intermittent  flow 
of  blood  through  the  system  by  the  action  of  the  heart, 
he  could  feel  the  beating  of  his  own  heart  as  though 
he  had  within  him  a  steam-engine." 

But  in  any  analysis  of  Dr.  Durbin's  eloquence  his 
voice  demands  particular  notice.  According  to  Cicero, 
in  effective  as  well  as  in  pleasing  delivery  the  voice 
"  holds  the  highest  place."  Payson  thought  that  it  is 
half  the  pulpit.  With  some  it  is  more  than  half.  Emer- 
son says  of  the  voice,  "It  sometimes  of  itself  enchains 
attention,  and  indicates  rare  sensibility  ;  that  the  voice, 
like  the  face,  betrays  the  nature  and  disposition,  and 
soon  indicates  the  range  of  the  speaker's  mind."  He 


268 


JOHN  P.  DURBW. 


quotes  one  as  saying,  "he  learns  from  the  first  tones  of 
his  voice  on  Sunday  morning  whether  he  is  to  have 
a  successful  day."  A  feeble,  harsh,  strained,  or  nasal 
voice  is  a  great  hindrance  to  a  speaker.  This  presents 
one  of  the  weightiest  reasons  for  its  cultivation.  From 
failure  of  the  voice  of  Dr.  Durbin  in  his  earliest  minis- 
try the  work  of  his  life  seemed  brought  to  a  close  ; 
but  by  care  and  proper  use  it  was  restored  and  strength- 
ened. It  had  compass  necessary  to  the  greatest  occa-' 
sions  and  grandest  themes.  When  he  rose  to  speak  it 
seemed  to  lack  body,  but  it  was  clear,  and  audible  to  a 
large  assembly.  With  advancing  thought,  and  under 
the  influence  of  the  listening  multitude,  it  acquired 
swell  and  fullness.  The  quality  of  his  voice  can  hardly 
be  described.  We  may  more  easily  convey  an  idea  of 
what  it  was  not  than  what  it  was.  At  the  beginning 
it  had  no  oily  smoothness  ;  but  it  was  not  uncouth 
or  disagreeable.  If  it  did  not  awaken  interest  it  did 
not  hinder  effect.  In  pitch,  in  loudness,  in  modula- 
tion, he  was  its  master.  Physical  and  psychological 
causes  sometimes  told  on  its  exercise. 

Its  expression  was  more  than  its  compass  and  quality. 
Of  the  power  of  the  voice  to  awaken  emotions  corre- 
sponding to  those  we  feel  we  have  only  to  consider  facts. 
How  are  we  affected  by  the  cry  of  "  Fire,"  of  "Mur- 
der "  ?  The  one  creates  alarm,  the  other  horror.  The 
result  is  according  to  the  utterance,  and  this  agrees  with 
the  emotion.  There  is  a  contrast  between  the  feelings 
awakened  by  the  exclamations  Hallelujah  and  Rabboni. 
The  one  expresses  ecstasy,  the  other  awe.  The  voice 
may  be  cheerful  or  pathetic,  may  start  a  tear  or  heal 
an  aching  heart.  At  one  time  it  may  be  like  the 
sound  of  the  bugle  to  the  war-horse  that  rushes  to  bat- 
tle, at  another  time  like  the  piping  of  the  highland 
shepherd  when  the  flock  gather  about  him  as  charmed 


DRAMATIC* POWER,  VOICE,  UNCTION. 


269 


by  the  music.  He  knew  this  cultivation  of  the  voice  in 
song  and  in  the  artist.  If  it  is  capable  of  any  thing  that 
Dr.  Durbin  did  not  understand  we  are  unable  to  name 
it.  It  was  trained  for  all  parts  of  a  discourse — the 
didactic,  the  expository,  the  narrative,  for  illustration, 
or  for  climax.  This  was  seen  in  his  addresses  for  mis- 
sions as  well  as  in  preaching  the  Word.  In  a  moment 
he  could  kindle  a  fire  or  extinguish  a  flame.  In  his  ad- 
dress he  was  much  accustomed  to  the  rising  inflection, 
which  seems  more  spirited  and  intimate,  while, the  fall- 
ing inflection  is  more  suggestive  of  the  dogmatic  and 
authoritative. 

A  teacher  of  the  art  of  speaking  has  given  three 
voices,  that  he  severally  distinguishes  as  the  English, 
Roman,  and  Attic.  The  English  is  that  employed  in 
conversation  and  in  good  reading.  This  we  may  see 
in  the  sermons  of  Robert  Robinson,  and,  from  his  feeble 
health,  in  John  Summerfield.  This  makes  the  colloquial 
preacher. 

The  Roman  voice  is  full,  round,  commanding.  This 
we  may  assume  was  the  voice  of  Otis  when,  in  disdain 
of  oppression,  he  said,  "  Arbitrary  principles,  like  those 
against  which  we  now  contend,  have  cost  one  king  of 
England  his  life,  another  his  crown,  and  they  may  cost 
a  third  his  most  flourishing  colonies."  In  this  voice 
Bascom  delivered  his  entire  sermon. 

The  Attic  is  of  greater  compass  and  intensity.  Such 
we  may  suppose  was  the  voice  of  Patrick  Henry  when 
he  uttered  the  memorable  words,  "  There  is  no  longer 
any  room  for  hope.  .  .  .  We  must  fight  !  I  repeat  it, 
sir,  we  must  fight  !  An  appeal  to  arms  and  to  the  God 
of  hosts  is  all  that  is  left  us.  The  war  is  inevitable,  and 
let  it  come  !    I  repeat,  sir,  let  it  come  !  " 

Daniel  Webster  was  excellent  in  the  English,  was 
grand  in  the  Roman,  but  when  passion  carried  him  to 


270 


JOHN  P.  DURBW. 


the  Attic,  as  it  was  apt  to  do  in  great  subjects,  his  voice 
broke  and  the  effect  was  unequal.  Dr.  Durbin  began  in 
the  English,  advanced  to  the  Roman,  culminated  in  the 
Attic.  He  was  easy  and  familiar  in  the  English.  He  was 
noble  and  commanding  in  the  Roman  ;  but  in  his  grand- 
est thoughts  and  sublimest  utterances,  when  most  of  the 
dramatic  element  came  out,  it  was  in  the  Attic  voice. 
Here  it  revealed  its  wondrous  power  ;  here  was  the  man 
in  the  intellect,  utterance,  attitude,  gesture,  voice, 
emotion.  Here  was  each  in  its  fullness.  Now  was  seen 
his  peerless  eloquence.  But  when  the  voice  was  under 
the  highest  pressure  it  showed  no  strain  to  impair  either 
its  flexibility  or  smoothness.  It  could  shoot  out  like 
light  to  dispel  doubt,  or  explode  like  a  shell  to  accom- 
plish its  design;  but,  unlike  the  shell,  it  did  its  work  with- 
out destroying  its  own  integrity.  A  United  States 
Senator  from  Virginia,  years  after  the  chaplaincy  of 
Dr.  Durbin,  declared  that  he  never  heard  a  voice  that 
so  affected  him,  and  that  he  could  never  forget  its  tones. 

But  more  than  imagination,  dramatic  power,  or  the 
voice  was  the  unction  of  the  Holy  One  in  the  ministry 
of  Dr.  Durbin. 

No  one  familiar  with  the  preaching  of  our  fathers  in 
Methodism  can  have  failed  to  observe  the  prominence 
given  to  the  work  of  the  Spirit  in  awakening,  convert- 
ing, and  sanctifying  the  soul.  If  it  be  inquired,  What 
has  been  the  one  thought  that  has  filled  the  mind  of  the 
minister?  it  is  this:  "  Without  me  ye  can  do  nothing." 

That  which  distinguished  our  early  preachers  was 
not  mental  idiosyncrasy,  new  theological  beliefs,  nor 
physical  force,  whether  judged  by  voice  or  gesture  or 
forms  of  labor.  They  could  not,  as  a  rule,  chiim  the  pro- 
found learning  of  the  schools.  They  were  not  remark- 
able for  the  exhaustive  treatment  of  their  subjects  ;  but 
whether  they  sang,  or  prayed,  or  exhorted,  or  preached — 


DRAMATIC  POWER,  VOICE,  UXCTIOy. 


271 


whether  they  met  in  class,  or  formed  a  "  band,"  or  held 
a  love-feast — their  perpetual  thought  was,  "  It  is  the 
Spirit  that  quickeneth."  The  books  they  read,  the 
letters  they  wrote,  the  conversations  that  they  delighted 
to  hold  were  eminently  spiritual.  In  their  conversation 
they  claimed  that  the  "  Spirit  bore  witness  with  their 
spirit  that  they  were  born  of  God."  In  many  cases,  if 
they  were  not  spiritual  they  were  nothing.  The  confi- 
dence of  the  pulpit  was  in  the  Spirit  to  secure  the 
highest  success.  This  awoke  the  faculties,  inspired  the 
purpose,  prompted  the  language,  and  compelled  the  no- 
blest utterances  of  the  man.  The  heart  spoke,  the  tears 
flowed,  and  the  joy  that  thrilled  them  animated  others. 
The  careless  and  the  rebellious  were  subdued.  As  on 
Pentecost,  the  people  were  amazed,  marveled,  and 
said,  "  Whence  this  work  ? "  The  spirit  in  Meth- 
odism seemed  to  be  turning  the  world  upside  down. 
Society  showed  the  influence  in  the  vices  that  were 
abandoned  and  in  the  moral  purity  that  took  their 
place.  It  was  such  sensational  preaching  as  the  Church 
might  justly  honor.    This  is  a  present  need. 

In  many  a  minister's  discourses  we  may  have  the  best 
evidence  of  a  richly  endowed  intellect,  of  a  finely  culti- 
vated mind,  of  a  memory  stored  with  choicest  liter- 
ature ;  there  may  be  a  faultless  style,  a  polished  elocu- 
tion, and  rare  homiletic  skill.  In  Christian  apologetics, 
and  in  surveying  and  sustaining  the  outworks  of  Chris- 
tianity, they  certainly  are  able  and  may  be  popular 
men.  Yet  while  they  have  the  symmetry  of  form  there 
may  also  be  the  coldness  and  the  deadness  of  the 
corpse.    He  who  vitalizes  must  himself  be  vital. 

To  our  fathers,  rhetoric,  logic,  elocution,  even  expo- 
sition, were  only  the  stepping-stones  to  something 
higher.  Where,  as  a  rule,  other  ministers  left  off  they 
did  execution.    Then  they  took  firmer  hold  and  obtained 


272 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


a  closer  grasp.  When  they  had  put  the  subject  before 
the  mind  they  tried  to  get  it  into  the  heart,  and  felt 
that  nothing  was  done  till  the  citadel  gave  away  under 
the  heaviest  fire.  It  was  as  if,  in  the  language  of  John 
Fletcher,  "  they  would  storm  perdition  and  take  the 
heavenly  Jerusalem  by  force." 

But  Dr.  Durbin  looked  to  a  period  beyond,  when  an 
apostle  spoke  and  said,  "  Paul  may  plant  and  Apollos 
water,  but  God  must  give  the  increase."  This  was  set- 
ting truth  in  the  strongest  light.-  If  they  could  not 
succeed  without  the  Spirit,  who  can?  "  Who  then  is 
Paul?"  He  was  a  man  of  power.  His  mind  had 
acuteness,  compass,  and  vigor;  his  taste  and  tact  and 
teachings  showed  superior  judgment,  and  there  was  no 
want  of  imagination.  He  knew  how  to  influence  men 
by  courtesy  and  charity.  His  heart  was  not  inferior 
to  his  head,  and  with  God  as  supreme  in  his  affections 
he  had  himself  under  good  control.  He  possessed  great 
skill  in  reasoning,  and  could  kindle  a  fire  in  his  logic 
that  consumed  "  the  wood  and  hay  and  stubble"  of 
false  leaders.  The  intellectual  Anakims  of  his  day 
quailed  before  him. 

In  delivering  sermons,  directing  councils,  writing 
epistles,  in  all  the  work  of  an  itinerant  preacher  was  he 
not  peerless?  Who  would  not  have  such  a  minister  as 
Paul?  AVould  we  not  study  his  matter,  commend  his 
methods,  admire  his  manner,  and  invoke  his  influence? 
Would  he  not  fill  our  churches,  rouse  our  members, 
convince  our  skeptics,  revolutionize  community,  save 
men  ?  Would  we  not  bring  the  frigid  that  the  fire  of 
his  zeal  might  warm  them  ?  Would  we  not  seek  the 
chronic  complainers,  that  he  might  effect  their  cure? 
Would  we  not  be  ready  to  do  as  they  did  in  his  days, 
"bring  the  sick  in  beds  and  couches,  that  the  shadow 
of  an  apostle  might  fall  on  them  ?"    Grand  man  that 


DRAMATIC  POWER,   VOICE,  UNCTION. 


273 


he  was  !  When  Cowper  would  describe  the  "  faithful 
preacher "  it  was  "  such  as  Paul."  Yet  what  says 
Paul?  "God  must  give  the  increase  "  of  convictions, 
the  "  increase  "  of  conversions;  the  "  increase"  of  holi- 
ness is  of  God. 

Besides  this  he  says,  "  Apollos  may  water;  "  but  then, 
too,  "  God  must  give  the  increase."  In  spiritual  hus- 
bandry watering  is  as  necessary  to  fruitfulness  as  plant- 
ing. Apollos  had  high  claim.  He  was  an  eloquent  man 
and  mighty  in  the  Scriptures.  That  which  the  Bible 
emphasizes  deserves  special  notice.  He  mightily  con- 
vinced the  Jews,  publicly  showing  by  the  Scriptures 
that  Jesus  is  the  Christ.  He  stood  in  the  radiance  of 
celestial  truth,  and  it  -shone  all  around  him.  Yet  who 
is  Paul,  or  who  is  Apollos,  but  ministers  by  whom  ye 
received  the  word?  Good  in  their  place,  and  they  were 
faithful  to  do  their  part. 

Paul  could  plant  in  any  soil.  Apollos  could  water  as 
the  diffusive  dew,  as  the  gentle  rain,  or  as  the  heavy 
shower.  Yet  clearly  they  saw,  profoundly  they  felt, 
and  candidly  they  confessed  they  could  not  give  the 
"increase."  The  very  thing  for  which  they  labored 
they  could  not  give.  "Increase  "  is  the  only  thing  that 
the  farmer  wants.  It  is  the  great  thing  for  which  the 
minister  sows  beside  all  waters,  and  for  want  of 
which  his  head  may  become  a  "  fountain  of  tears." 

The  fact  remains.  The  preacher  may  excel  in  word- 
painting,  attract  by  voice,  by  matter  and  by  manner — 
may  have  the  commendation  that  the  intelligent  and 
influential  bestow,  and  yet  find  the  painful  lack  ;  the 
"  souls  for  whom  Christ  died  are  not  saved." 

It  is  related  of  Narni,  an  Italian  bishop,  that  he  so 
preached  to  the  people  that  as  they  walked  the  streets 
they  exclaimed,  "  Lord,  have  mercy  !  "  In  one  week  200 
crowns  were  spent  to  buy  ropes  for  self-in vented  pen- 
19 


274 


JOHX  P.  BUBBIX. 


ance.  When  he  preached  before  the  pope,  cardinals, 
and  priests  he  so  represented  the  evils  of  non-residence 
that  forty  of  them  went  back  to  their  cures.  When  in 
the  pulpit  of  the  University  of  Salamanca  he  induced 
eight  hundred  students  to  renounce  the  pleasures  and 
honors  of  the  world  and  betake  themselves  to  different 
monasteries.  But  after  all  this  the  priests  and  the 
people  went  on  as  before,  and  Xarni  left  the  pulpit  in 
despair.  Why  was  this?  It  was  the  power  of  human 
eloquence  without  the  proper  presence  and  power  of  the 
Spirit.  Without  this  an  angel  cleaving  the  heavens 
could  not  accomplish  salvation. 

It  forever  stands:  "  Without  Me  ye  can  do  nothing." 

John  P.  Durbin  began  and  continued  his  ministry 
with  the  motto,  worthy  of  the  most  ardent  Methodism, 
that  it  is  the  "  unction  that  makes  the  minister."  This 
he  sought  with  deepest  solicitude.  This  he  would  illus- 
trate in  all  his  efforts  to  save  the  sinner  and  to  bless 
the  Church.  In  that  Spirit  was  his  highest  hope  and 
noblest  triumph.  He  well  knew  that  when  rhetoric, 
logic,  and  eloquence  had  achieved  their  greatest  results 
there  remained  the  absolute  necessity  for  the  Spirit  to 
take  of  the  things  of  God  and  show  them  to  those 
whom  he  sought  to  persuade.  His  divine  resource  was 
in  the  presence  and  efficiency  of  that  Spirit  that  brings 
heavenly  beauty  and  order  out  of  the  wreck  of  our 
moral  nature.  Amid  the  multiplied  temptations  of  the 
minister  to  repose  on  human  attainments  and  skill  it 
must  stand  before  him  as  the  utterance  of  infinite  wis- 
dom, and  therefore  as  an  indisputable  fact,  "  Without 
Me  ye  can  do  nothing." 

How  far  the  "  unction  of  the  Spirit"  gave  power  to 
Dr.  Durbin's  ministry  may  be  judged  by  the  influence 
that  rested  upon  him  at  times  in  public  supplication. 

Joseph  Longking,  D.D.,  told  the  writer  of  the  first 


DRAMATIC  POWER,  VOICE,  UNCTION.  215 


prayer  he  heard  John  P.  Durbin  offer.  It  was  in 
John  Street.  When  lie  began  he  was  slow  and  con- 
versational. There  was  nothing  to  impress  with  favor 
except  that  it  was  reverent  and  sensible.  But  in  a 
little  time  he  seemed  to  be  drawing  very  near  to  God  ; 
then  he  warmed  ;  then  the  people  warmed  ;  then  he 
glowed ;  then  the  people  took  fire ;  then  he  seemed  to 
be  talking  to  God,  as  if  he  was  with  him,  face  to  face 
in  the  pulpit.  So  profoundly  was  Mr.  Longking  stirred 
and  so  filled  was  he  with  wonder  that  he  involuntarily 
rose  from  his  knees  and  looked  at  the  man  in  audience 
with  Deity  as  he  had  never  realized  with  any  man 
before  or  since.  Other  instances  of  his  amazing  power 
are  presented  in  letters  furnished  in  this  volume.  He 
had  no  respect  to  length,  or  loudness,  or  any  thing  but 
for  those  who  awoke  his  solicitude.  For  a  time  these 
prayers  awed  and  then  whelmed  the  people.  A  moral 
earthquake  is  a  tremendous  thing  to  associate  with  col- 
lege life  in  the  efforts  of  the  president  in  prayer. 
But  when  Dr.  Durbin  bent  under  the  burden  of  souls 
it  was  as  if  the  heavens  bowed  and  the  earth  shook. 
After  such  seasons  his  physical  energies  required  days 
for  repair. 

Dr.  Durbin,  when  he  felt  the  unction  of  the  Holy  One, 
had  a  nature  so  responsive  to  that  power  as  to  reveal 
and  awaken  deep  emotion.  They  who  consider  emotion 
out  of  place  in  religion  conceive  quite  as  much  as  intel- 
ligence will  permit.  In  what  realm  of  thought,  in 
what  sphere  of  action,  under  what  circumstances  of  our 
being  is  our  emotional  nature  forbidden  due  exercise? 
Is  it  when  gladness  thrills?  When  apprehension  tort- 
ures ?  When  the  irreparable  loss  is  sustained  ?  May 
the  sorrowing  never  say,  "Lover  and  friend  hast  thou 
put  far  from  me,  and  mine  acquaintance  into  darkness  ?" 
In  the  domestic  circle  may  not  joy  make  the  eye 


276  JOHN  P.  DURBIK 

sparkle  or  bereavement  cause  the  head  to  bow  ?  Then, 
verily,  stoicism  is  an  exalted  virtue. 

There  are  times  when  emotion  is  wisely  repressed; 
when  we  may  restrain  the  tear,  forbid  the  look,  dis- 
courage the  action.  No  one  knew  this  better  than 
Dr.  Durbin.  But  may  it  never  be  indulged?  Is  it 
always  out  of  place?  Is  it,  when  the  soldier  leaves 
his  family  to  go  to  war?  Is  it,  when  the  prodigal 
comes  home  ?  Is  it,  when  victory  returns  to  its  scabbard 
the  sword  that  neccessity  drew  and  that  patriotism 
wielded?  Who  are  they  who  are  strangers  to  the  ex- 
hibition of  emotion?  Why  do  angels  rejoice  wThen  a 
sinner  repents  ?  Why  does  the  Father  of  mercies  say, 
"My  bowels  are  pained  within  me,  my  repentings  are 
kindled  together?"  An  emotionless  intelligence,  where 
is  it  ?  In  heaven  ?  No  !  The  shout  of  their  triumph  is 
as  "  the  sound  of  many  waters."  Is  it  in  hell?  No! 
There  they  weep,  and  wail,  and  gnash  their  teeth. 
And  shall  ministers  sent  to  warn  men  k<  that  they  come 
not  into  the  place  of  torment,"  and  when  they  "know- 
not  what  a  day  will  bring  forth,"  shall  preachers  be  cold  ? 
Who  will  assert  that  the  great  Teacher  was  emotionless  ? 
Why  then  did  he  say,  "  Fear  him  who  is  able  to  destroy 
both  soul  and  body  in  hell  ? "  Is  fear  emotionless  ? 
Why  then  did  the  knees  of  Belshazzar  "smite  one 
against  the  other?"  and,  under  the  ministry  of  Paul, 
why  did  Felix  tremble?  Is  love  emotionless?  Then 
explain  the  tears  of  Jesus  at  Jerusalem. 

This  unction  that  rested  upon  Dr.  Durbin  spoke  in 
melting  pathos.  This  was  sometimes  the  very  soul 
of  his  sermon  ;  but  love  was  the  soul  of  his  pathos. 
Ganganelli  says,  "  The  preacher  is  to  scatter  the  oint- 
ment of  grace  while  he  diffuses  the  light  of  truth." 
Fenelon  declares  of  Chrysostom,  "He  entered  into  the 
hearts  of  his  hearers."     One  has  said,  when  speaking 


DRAMATIC  POWER,  VOICE,  UNCTION.  277 


of  sculpture,  that  "  the  artist  ought  to  have  two  souls, 
in  order  to  transfer  one  of  them  into  his  work."  Under 
the  divine  afflatus  the  soul  of  Durbin  was  great  enough 
to  allow  transfusion  without  harming  its  nature  or  less- 
ening its  powers.  Who  wonders  that,  when  they  saw 
the  anchor  cast,  and  were  assured  that  it  was  within  the 
vail,  they  wanted  to  lay  hold  of  the  cable  and  pull  for 
the  celestial  shore  ? 

The  power  of  truth  and  the  emotion  of  one  kindled 
the  emotion  of  many.  Was  it  the  breath  of  a  mortal 
that  now  made  dry  bones  stir  ?  No  !  No  !  It  was  the 
Breath  that  came  from  the  four  winds. 


278 


JOHN  B.  DUBBIN. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 
Extemporization. 

IN  any  analysis  that  we  make  of  a  preacher's  power 
we  are  compelled  to  consider  his  communication — 
whether  it  is  read,  memorized,  or  extemporaneous — 
whether  with  or  without  notes.  Dr.  Durbin  is  presented 
as  an  extemporaneous  speaker.  He  was  not  an  extem- 
poraneous sermonizer.  He  had  his  subject  before  him, 
his  plan  matured,  and  his  matter  was  well  studied. 
Though  not  accustomed  to  write  sermons  for  delivery 
he  was  not  the  "student  in  the  pulpit, "  but  in  his 
study.  In  the  pulpit  he  was  the  speaker,  the  messen- 
ger of  God,  with  his  message  on  his  tongue,  which, 
for  its  purpose,  he  implicitly  trusted.  He  knew  that 
message  in  its  import,  design,  and  adaptation.  He  was 
far  from  the  reproach  that  Owen  Feltham  casts  upon 
negligent  ministers  when  he  says,  "  I  admire  the  valor 
of  some  men,  that  before  studying  dare  ascend  the  pul- 
pit and  there  do  take  more  pains  than  they  have  done 
in  the  library.  .  .  .  And  this  makes  some  such  fugi- 
tive divines  that,  like  cowards,  they  run  from  the  text." 
The  preparation  of  Dr.  Durbin  for  the  pulpit  when  a 
pastor  was  reduced  to  a  system.  Early  in  the  week,  we 
have  seen,  he  digested  his  subject  and  hnd  his  sketch 
in  readiness  for  the  pulpit.  When  he  began  to  speak 
the  current  of  his  language  flowed  on  in  the  channel  of 
previous  thought,  and  words  were  extemporized  as  they 
were  wanted.  If  on  some  occasions  a  text,  a  theme,  a 
division  came  to  him  as  by  inspiration,  then  every  thing 


EXTEMP  OHIZA  TION. 


was  extemporized.  Theme,  thoughts,  terms,  sentences, 
were  seized.  An  exigency,  it  may  be,  was  thus  the  oc- 
casion of  a  most  appropriate  and  memorable  discourse. 
But  this  was  not  his  dependence  or  fancied  justification 
for  neglect  of  proper  study. 

For  some  occasions,  as  is  seen  in  Dr.  Tiffany's 
letter,  his  sermons  were  prepared  with  great  labor.  In 
the  early  ministry  of  Dr.  Durbin  a  paper  sermon  in  a 
Methodist  pulpit  would  have  been  like  an  ecclesiastical 
heresy — would  have  been  regarded  an  invasion  upon 
essential  economy.  Imagination  could  hardly  conceive 
it.  Read  sermons  in  any  church  were  construed  as 
evidence  of  want  in  spirituality  in  the  minister  who 
ga\e  such  discourses  and  in  the  people  who  would  con- 
sent to  accept  them.  It  seemed  bold  in  the  president 
of  Dickinson  College  fifty  years  ago  to  have  the 
•skeleton  of  a  sermon  in  the  pulpit  and  hold  it  up  be- 
fore the  congregation.  But  with  us  colleges  were  new, 
and  we  did  not  know  how  much  was  to  be  allowed  to 
come  with  them. 

If  there  are  any  ministers  in  whom  we  might  be  ex- 
pected to  confide  as  extemporaneous  speakers,  they  are 
those  whom  Methodism  has  reared.  Thus  our  fathers 
went  forth  when  God  bade  them  "  speak  to  the  people 
all  the  words  of  this  life.""  And  whether  in  field  or 
forest',  in  barn  or  church,  they  drew  listening  multi- 
tudes, who  heard,  believed,  and  obeyed  the  Gospel. 
Thus,  without  education  except  in  their  calling,  by 
their  ardor  and  eloquence  they  attracted  rich  and  poor, 
refined  and  rude,  and  other  Churches  were  glad  to  have 
some  of  them  for  their  pulpits,  which,  on  accepting, 
they  did  not  fail  to  honor. 

Thus  Dr.  Durbin  began,  went  on,  and  finished.  It  is 
a  weighty  fact,  and  therefore  worthy  of  careful  consider- 
ation, that  in  the  beginning  of  Methodism,  when  we 


280 


JOHN  P.  DURBM 


made  such  popular  and  powerful  appeals— when  the 
masses  thronged  our  places  of  worship,  and  when  many 
of  the  great  of  the  land  were  awed  by  our  influence 
and  identified  themselves  with  our  Society — then  ex- 
temporaneous preaching  was  all  we  knew  ;  our  ministers 
were  mighty  in  this,  our  members  were  edified  by  this. 
By  this  the  land  shook,  the  Churches  wondered,  and  it 
was  as  if  the  kino-dom  of  darkness  was  coming  to  an 
end.  This  was  in  broad  contrast  to  the  reading  prac- 
ticed in  the  other  Churches,  and  it  drew.  Philosophic- 
ally considered,  it  might  be  said  that  the  vigorous  ex- 
ercise of  the  mind  in  extemporaneous  speaking  would 
naturally  create  earnestness  of  feeling  and  of  manner. 
Earnest  the//  were. 

Dr.  Thomas  H.  Skinner,  professor  of  homiletics  in 
the  "  Union  Theological  Seminary,"  gave  as  his  judg- 
ment to  the  class  that  no  man  is  prepared  for  the 
ministry  who  cannot  extemporize,  saying,  Occasions 
will  arise,  and  appeals  must  be  made,  when  to  want 
this  ability  will  be  construed  to  the  serious  disadvan- 
tage of  the  preacher.  Though  one  may  write  with  el- 
egance, and  memorize  wTith  ease,  and  have  good  elocu- 
tion, for  readiness  to  his  work  and  efficiency  in  his 
labors  he  must  be  able  to  extemporize.  But  while  all 
may  commend  the  extemporaneous  when  successful, 
many  show  reasons  for  reluctance  in  adopting  it ;  as 
fear  of  inaccuracy  and  inelegance. 

They  think  that  language  thus  spoken  is  necessarily 
immature.  If  the  immaturity  appear  only  in  lack  of 
finish,  and  there  is  found  greater  directness  and  force, 
we  may  ask  if  the  absence  of  the  one  is  not  more  than 
compensated  by  the  presence  of  the  other;  whether 
efficiency  is  not  more  than  beauty?  But  is  it  just  t  > 
assume  that  the  extemporaneous  is  necessarily  wanting 
in  accuracy  or  elegance?   Is  it  not  the  mind  that  dis- 


EXTEMP  ORIZA  TIOK 


281 


tinguishes  both  pen  and  tongue  ?  Is  it  not  the  culti- 
vation of  the  intellect  that  gives  choice  to  language 
and  precision  to  speech  ?  And  may  not  the  speaker 
as  truly  as  the  writer  show  culture? 

From  the  philosophy  of  the  case  shall  we  conclude  that 
the  artificial  is  better  than  the  natural — that  the  pen, 
which  is  man's  invention,  is  superior  to  the  tongue, 
which  is  God's  organ  ?  Is  the  alliance  between  brain 
and  pen  more  intimate  ?  Are  the  treasures  of  the  in- 
tellect more  fully  yielded  to  the  pen  than  to  the 
tongue?  Is  the  composition  of  the  one  necessarily 
more  noble  and  truthful  than  the  utterances  of  the 
other?  Will  fancy  afford  more  beauty,  or  imagination 
take  a  higher  range,  or  will  invention  show  more  skill 
when  the  pen  calls  than  when  the  tongue  appeals  ? 
Have  not  the  readiest  writers  found  themselves  unable 
to  reproduce  by  the  pen  what  was  in  the  tongue  during 
a  conversation,  or  in  a  time  of  seclusion  and  thought  ? 

Were  not  the  words  more  vital  and  vivid  when  spoken 
than  they  were  when  the  pen  was  employed  ?  Is  not  the 
pen  of  the  tongue  more  naturally  dipped  in  the  ink  of  the 
heart  than  the  pen  of  the  scribe  f  Is  not  the  soul  more 
fully  revealed  when  there  is  no  paper  between  it  and 
the  people — when  thought,  and  speech,  and  sympathy, 
seem  one  and  instantaneous  ?  Does  not  the  mind 
move  under  a  higher  impulse  and  inspiration  when  the 
speaker  is  standing  in  the  holy  place  amid  the  influ-. 
ences  of  a  waiting  and  worshiping  congregation  than 
when  alone  and  writing  ? 

We  do  not  claim  for  all  extemporaneous  speakers 
either  accuracy  or  elegance ;  but  can  these  be  predicated 
of  all  written  composition  ?  If  want  of  time  to  pre- 
pare is  a  reason  for  inaccuracy,  inelegance,  and  imma- 
turity in  the  spoken  word,  is  not  lack  of  time  for 
written  composition  a  reason  why  that  too  should  be  inac- 


282 


JOHN  P,  JbURBlX. 


curate,  inelegant,  and  immature?  The  truth  is,  there 
is  much  extemporaneous  writing  for  the  pulpit.  There 
is  composition  of  the  pen  as  well  as  utterance  of  the 
tongue  thrown  off  without  careful  thought. 

We  submit — 1.  How  much  time  does  it  require  of  a 
man  that  knows  grammar,  and  is  accustomed  to  its  use, 
to  employ  good  syntax?  How  much  time  is  requisite 
for  one  of  a  clear  mind  and  beautiful  thought  to  find  a 
fitting  dress  ?  The  tongue  is  as  true  as  the  pen,  and 
can  make  as  just  an  impression.  Did  any  one  ever 
detect  disparity  in  Dr.  Durbin's  spoken  word  as  com- 
pared to  any  thing  that  was  written  for  his  use  ? 

2.  But  we  reason  from  facts  furnished.  When  Dr. 
Durbin  was  thrilling  his  great  assemblies  with  extem- 
poraneous address,  there  were  teachers  of  science  and 
professional  men  in  the  same  city,  outside  the  ministry, 
that  were  showing  ability  in  the  extemporaneous  utter- 
ance of  the  most  weighty  thoughts  that  their  position 
demanded  them  to  present.  Not  to  speak  of  others 
whom  we  would  be  glad  to  name,  there  was — 

Dr.  Robert  E.  Rogers,  professor  of  chemistry  in  the 
medical  department  of  the  Pennsylvania  University, 
with  a  class  of  from  three  hundred  to  five  hundred 
students,  all  seeking  the  most  accurate  knowledge  of 
that  which  was  so  necessary  for  their  profession.  He 
M  as  lecturing  day  after  day,  and  week  after  week, 
for  nearly  six  months  in  the  year,  and  with  eloquence 
that  held  the  students  spell-bound.  When  on  one  occa- 
sion the  writer  thought  he  would  like  to  have  one  of 
the  grandest  passages  he  had  ever  heard  on  the  sub- 
ject, he  took  the  liberty  to  ask  it  of  the  professor,  who 
assured  him  he  would  be  delighted  to  give  it,  but  that 
it  was  wholly  extemporaneous. 

At  the  same  time  there  was  in  the  Jefferson  Medi- 
cal  College   Robley  Dunglison.     He  was  a  volumi- 


EXTEMFOHlZATluy. 


283 


nous  writer  in  medical  science.  He  filled  the  chair  of 
physiology,  a  department  that  demands  the  greatest 
accuracy.  To  him  we  listened  in  the  rush  and  fullness 
of  an  eloquence  that  suggested  Dr.  Chalmers  as  no 
other  man  ever  did.  In  the  Philadelphia  College  of 
Medicine  was  Dr.  James  McClintock,  the  brother  of 
Dr.  John  McClintock.  To  think  of  substituting  written 
composition  for  his  fluent,  precise,  and  eloquent  extem- 
poraneous address  would  be  as  if  one  would  seek  for 
the  shimmering  cascade,  the  sluggish  stream. 

At  the  bar  were  David  Paul  Brown,  Joseph  R.  In- 
gersoll,  and  George  M.  Dallas.  For  fluency,  elegance, 
and  eloquence,  we  might  have  searched  long  and  dili- 
gently, and  in  vain,  for  better  illustrations  among  read- 
ers of  manuscripts.  Can  men  of  science,  where  there 
is  so  much  terminology  and  such  demand  for  precision  in 
language,  and  in  a  profession  where  such  momentous 
earthly  issues  are  involved — can  these  afford  to  adopt 
extemporaneous  speech  if  there  is  necessarily  immatu- 
rity? If  they  believed  that  by  manuscript  they  could 
more  clearly,  fully,  and  impressively  inculcate  their 
subject  or  make  their  appeal  to  a  jury,  would  it  be  just 
to  those  concerned  that  they  should  fail  to  write  and 
only  speak  f  Surely  it  may  not  be  imagined  that  men 
of  science  and  other  professions  are  better  acquainted 
with  what  they  teach,  or  that  their  minds  or  hearts  are 
more  in  their  work.  Will  any  allow  the  belief  that  the 
men  in  these  professions  have  better  minds  than  those 
whom  God  calls  ? 

3.  But  have  not  Christ's  ministers  special  reason  to 
expect  success  in  extemporary  speech  ?  Are  they  not 
justified  in  looking  for  necessary  help  from  the  Spirit? 
Is  there  no  "speech"  that  shall  be  given  them  "in  that 
self-same  hour?"  Are  they  not  permitted  to  make 
present  application  of  an  old  promise,  though  no  older 


284 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


than  revelation,  that  we  are  constantly  preaching, 
"  Open  thy  mouth  wide  and  I  will  fill  it  ?  "  Pentecost 
filled  the  mouth  of  Peter  the  fisherman,  and  there  are 
still  "  tongues  of  fire  "  as  really  as  pens  of  light.  When 
the  minister  has  done  his  part,  may  he  not,  as  really 
and  as  justly  as  did  St.  Paul  when  shipwreck  impended, 
say,  "Sirs,  I  believe  God  ?  "  It  is  no  more  presumption 
to  believe  God's  revealed  word  than  to  accept  the 
statement  of  the  angel  that  stood  by  Paul  and  as- 
sured his  deliverance.  Christ  appealed  to  his  apostles: 
"  When  I  sent  you  without  purse,  scrip,  or  shoes,  lacked 
ye  any  thing  ?  "'    They  replied,  "  Nothing." 

But  history  has  a  voice  to  show  that  extemporaneous 
speech  may  be  accurate  and  elegant  while  forceful  and 
eloquent.  We  shall  be  slow  to  find  fault  with  the 
speech  of  Peter  on  Pentecost.  Who  will  have  the 
temerity  to  accuse  Paul  of  any  deficiency  in  style  when 
he  was  accused  by  the  orator  Tertullus,  and  made  his 
defense  or  when  he  faced  the  philosophers  of  Athens? 
In  the  early  Church  we  have  Origen,  the  great  father 
of  pulpit  oratory,  at  the  age  of  sixty,  when  habit  is  so 
difficult  to  break,  adopting  the  extemporaneous  as  the 
more  appropriate  style.  It  is  said  of  Cyril  and  several 
of  his  contemporaries  that  they  spoke  to  their  people  in 
extemporaneous  language,  and  that  many  sermons  of 
Chrysostom,  together  with  his  celebrated  discourse  upon 
his  return  from  banishment,  are  proof  not  only  of  the 
existence  of  the  custom,  but  that  extempore  composi- 
tions are  not  necessarily  deficient  either  in  elegance  or 
in  method. 

Was  not  Bishop  Janes  an  accurate  speaker  ?  Did 
Bishop  Thomson  lack  elevation  or  beauty  ?  We  hesi- 
tate not  to  say  that  language  never  has  greater  point, 
precision,  and  power  than  when  the  extemporaneous 
speaker  is  in  the  right  mood  for  its  utterance. 


EXTEMP  ORIZA  TIOK 


285 


We  have  the  strongest  testimony  in  favor  of  extem- 
poraneous speech  from  some  of  the  wisest  and  weightiest 
ministers  of  later  times;  men  who  are  never  to  be  ques- 
tioned as  to  the  accuracy  of  their  thoughts  or  the  ele- 
gance of  their  language.  The  Rev.  Albert  Barnes, 
in  later  life,  adopted  the  extemporaneous  address,  and 
in  power  transcended  the  efforts  of  his  former  years. 

We  are  familiar  with  the  vigorous  thoughts  of  Dr. 
R.  S.  Storrs,  as  conveyed  in  his  Notes  on  "Extem- 
poraneous Preaching,"  and  we  have  this  eloquent  fact, 
that  this  commendation  is  from  a  minister  who  had  at- 
tained the  greatest  eminence  as  a  preacher  before  he 
tried  what  he  now  finds  is  "  the  more  excellent  way." 

And  are  we  not  urged  to  extemporaneous  preaching, 
from  the  high  commendation  it  receives  from  churches 
long  accustomed  to  the  manuscript  ?  And  is  it  not  a 
weighty  fact  that  so  many  ministers  with  whom  read- 
ing was  a  habit  are  now  assiduously  cultivating  talent 
for  extemporization  ? 

But  excellence  in  this  is  attained  only  by  the  effort 
that  determination  induces.  Any  one  might  fail  as  did 
those  whom  we  have  quoted.  In  this,  as  in  other  things 
of  interest  and  magnitude,  we  must  resolve  if  we  would 
achieve,  and  never  relinquish  purpose  till  facts  show 
success  is  impossible.  Dr.  Hepworth  has  written  with 
eloquence  of  his  freedom  from  the  shackles  of  manu- 
script, and  of  his  incomparable  delight  in  the  better 
expression  of  his  mind  and  heart  by  the  power  to  ex- 
temporize that  he  has  attained.  That  some  have  more 
language  than  others  admits  no  doubt ;  that  by  good 
society  men  may  improve  their  speech  will  not  be  dis- 
puted. But  they  are  greatly  mistaken  who  think  that 
right  words  are  to  roll  from  the  lips  like  waves  from 
the  ocean  by  a  necessary  law  ;  that  even  sentences  and 
propositions  are  to  be  turned  from  the  tongue  in  ex- 


286 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


quisite  shapes  for  use  as  ornaments  are  turned  off  by 
ingenious  machinery.  Extemporization  is  not  the 
refuge  of  indolence. 

Dr.  Durbin  sought  no  such  sanctuary,  and  neither 
offered  to  God  or  the  people  that  which  "  cost  him 
nothing."  Gravity  does  not  more  certainly  become  the 
pulpit  than  industry  and  earnestness.  Demosthenes 
said  he  "became  an  orator  by  spending  more  oil  than 
wine."  And  efficiency,  not  ease,  is  the  craving  of  the 
gospel  minister,  and  he  knows  that  the  sweat  of  the 
brain  has  more  heat  than  that  of  the  brow.  The 
extemporaneous  speech  of  Dr.  Durbin  had  accuracy 
and  elegance,  ease  and  energy. 

Dubious  as  extemporaneous  speech  may  appear,  other 
methods  have  had  quite  enough  of  failure  to  show  that 
they  are  not  without  risk. 

Dr.  South  was  one  of  the  finest  minds  in  the  English 
Church.  He  trusted  his  memory  in  delivering  a  ser- 
mon. It  failed,  and  he  was  covered  with  shame.  Dr. 
John  M.  Mason  was  one  of  the  grandest  preachers  of 
any  nation.  Ex-Chancellor  Ferris  told  the  writer  he 
was  present  when  memory  failed,  and,  putting  his  hand 
to  his  head,  he  said,  "  I  am  unable  to  say  more."  After 
this  lie  used  manuscript.  Have  we  known  no  one  come 
to  grief  with  manuscript  sermons?  The  light  was 
poor,  the  writing  was  bad,  the  sight  was  failing,  and 
the  preacher  had  not  sufficiently  studied  his  composition, 
and  received  little  sympathy. 

But  are  cases  of  breaking  down  in  extemporaneous 
speech  common  ?  If  so,  the  writer  has  not  witnessed 
them.  Many  times  he  has  known  extemporaneous 
speakers  to  be  wanting  in  liberty.  Fifty  years  ago  he 
heard  one  at  camp-meeting  who  on  entering  the  pulpit 
did  not  give  the  best  evidence  of  his  trust  in  God,  and 
in  a  short  time  he  gave  proof  that  he  needed  help. 


EXTEMPORIZATION. 


287 


There  bad  been  some  signs  of  rain,  and  he  found  it 
convenient  to  say,  "  Brethren,  I  perceive  a  cloud  arising, 
and  I  will  bring  my  remarks  to  a  close."  The  preach- 
ers thought  there  was  a  cloud  that  had  already  settled 
upon  the  speaker's  intellect;  but  he  was  not  speechless, 
and  was  able  to  say  something  by  way  of  closing.  The 
only  conclusion  in  cases  of  other  kinds  was  a  dead 
pause.  About  the  same  time  on  a  camp-ground  under 
like  circumstances  the  writer  heard  a  memorable 
preacher.  At  once  his  memory  failed.  He  rubbed  his 
head,  he  stood,  he  trembled,  he  recovered  and  resumed 
his  speech.  At  another  time  he  was  listening  to  one 
of  the  most  finished  preachers  in  the  Conference.  The 
thread  of  his  discourse  became  tangled.  To  see  a 
minister  trusting  memory  for  his  entire  composition, 
and  in  the  rush  of  his  utterance  in  a  moment  brought  to 
a  halt,  though  not  so  disastrous,  reminds  us  of  a  loco- 
motive at  high  speed  stopped  in  a  moment.  The  agony 
is  not  confined  to  the  speaker. 

Men  who  fail  in  extemporaneous  speech  might  ask, 
"Why  is  this?"  Was  the  subject  studied?  Was  it 
the  fear  of  man  that  brought  a  snare  ? 

Dr.  Durbin  once  asked  the  writer,  "  How  do  you  ac- 
count for  the  difference  in  young  men  in  public  speak- 
ing? Some  will  prepare  a  fine  composition,  but  in 
delivering  it  will  sometimes  come  to  a  dead  pause  and 
be  unable  to  say  any  thing.  Others  will  have  composi- 
tions of  perhaps  less  beauty,  but  from  whatever  diffi- 
culty they  meet  they  readily  extricate  themselves."  The 
reply  to  his  inquiry  was,  "  No  man  better  understands 
that  than  he  who  was  so  long  president  of  Dickinson," 
but  added,  "  one  depends  entirely  upon  memory,  the 
other  retains  such  freedom  as  always  preserves  him  from 
becoming  such  a  mortifying  spectacle."  This  was  ac- 
cepted by  the  Doctor  as  the  reason.  We  then  wished  to 


288 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


know  of  him  which  of  the  two  young  men  he  would 
prefer,  the  one  with  the  better  compo>ition  or  him  that 
had  the  reserve  of  power.  His  answer  was,  "By  all 
means,  the  latter." 

It  is  not  denied  that  extemporaneous  speakers  some- 
times lose  the  train  of  thought.  In  private  conversation 
we  do  the  same.  But  the  extemporaneous  speaker  has 
an  alertness  and  fruitfulness  of  mind  that  greatly  les- 
sen the  risk  of  utter  failure.  When  the  train  of  his 
thought  is  broken  the  mental  locomotion  continues,  and 
there  is  some  idea  to  carry  him  on  till  the  train  returns, 
and  then  he  accepts  it,  unless  he  thinks  his  diversion 
was  for  a  good  end. 

The  mind  puts  on  strength  and  shows  its  treasures. 

A  friend  asked  George  G.  Cookman  if  in  extempo- 
raneous speaking  he  never  lost  the  connection,  and,  if 
so,  how  he  did.  He  replied,  "I  do  sometimes  lose  the 
connection,  and  I  just  dash  into  an  exhortation,  and  the 
people  may  see  no  difference,  and  the  result  is  not 
spoiled." 

To  those  who  would  acquire  or  cultivate  talent  for 
extemporization  we  may  assume  that  there  are  essential 
conditions  of  success,  and  show  that  these  met  in  Dr. 
Durbin. 

1.  Tliere  should  be  knovileclge  of  the  theme.  The 
mind  must  have  the  material  of  thought  which  lan- 
guage is  to  convey.  We  speak  not  to  acquire,  but  to 
impart.  The  tongue  can  no  more  make  matter  for  dis- 
course than  the  hrmd  can  for  a  globe.  It  is  not  for  the 
eye  to  create  objects  of  vision  or  the  light  by  which 
they  are  seen.  It  would  be  a  feat  to  write  about  noth- 
ing. It  is  an  equal  exploit  to  extemporize  with  nothing 
to  say.  In  such  case  the  pen  should  be  still  and  the 
tongue  silent.  It  was  a  sin  in  the  task-master  of  Egypt 
to  require  "  bricks  "  with  no  straw  to  make  them.  One 


-• 


EXTEMPORIZA  TIOX. 


289 


of  the  greatest  difficulties  of  extemporization  is  that  the 
tongue  is  oppressed — that  they  give  it  the  double  task  of 
mdking  and  of  littering  thought.  So  did  not  Dr.  Dur- 
bin.  He  who  complains  that  he  cannot  express  himself 
may  do  well  to  ask  whether  it  is  not  because  he  has 
nothing  of  himself  to  express.  It  is  hard  pumping 
where  there  is  no  water.  Even  mutes  can  express 
thought  by  signs,  and  irrational  creatures  have  a  lan- 
guage that  makes  known  their  suffering  or  their  pleasure. 

He  who  extemporizes  may  be  far  from  general  intel- 
ligence; but  this  is  equally  true  of  him  that  writes. 
Whether  the  young  preacher  is  from  the  plow,  or  shop, 
or  seminary,  knoioledge  of  his  subject  is  an  essential  de- 
mand. He  who  has  seen  no  college  may  know  his  text 
and  treat  it  in  the  language  to  wrhich  he  is  accustomed. 

As  an  essential  condition  of  success, 

2.  There  must  be  sympathy  with  his  subject.  "We 
believe  and  therefore  speak."  No  man  is  fit  to  preach 
who  does  not  accept  and  appreciate  the  truths  of  the 
Gospel  that  he  is  called  to  inculcate.  He  should  have 
close  fellowship  with  God.  He  must  have  deep  sym- 
pathy with  men.  The  moral  wants  of  the  world  must 
move  his  soul.  He  must  be  anxious  "that  the  word  of 
the  Lord  may  have  free  course  and  be  glorified."  The 
lawyer  that  is  not  concerned  for  his  client  is  unworthy 
of  a  case.  The  physician  who  is  not  anxious  for  his 
patient  is  undeserving  of  practice.  The  general  that 
does  not  love  his  country  should  not  be  trusted  to  fight 
her  battles.  A  heart  intent  upon  accomplishing  its  end 
would  speak  "  though  tongues  were  out  of  use."  A 
warm  heart  puts  a  still  tongue  in  motion  and  makes  a 
cold  brain  burn  with  such  thoughts  as  would  reduce  the 
flesh  to  ashes  if  the  pent-up  fires  could  find  no  outlet. 
Thus  Jeremiah  felt  when  he  said,  "His  word  was  in 
mine  heart  as  a  burning  fire,  shut  up  in  my  bones." 
20 


290 


JOHN  P.  DURE IX. 


As  sympathy  with  the  theme  shows  the  soul  in  its 
highest  powers  so  the  soul  thus  awakened  gives  words 
the  readiest  and  noblest  utterance.  Fancy,  imagine,  if 
we  can,  that  such  ministers  would  fail  for  words.  There 
are  streams  that  dry  up,  there  are  lights  that  expire, 
but  we  would  as  soon  expect  the  Hudson  to  exhaust  her 
waters  or  the  sun  to  spend  his  beams  as  that  the  sym- 
pathy of  the  earliest  Methodist  preachers  would  lack 
language. 

3.  Mental  Poise.  No  man  can  appear  at  his  best  with- 
out the  control  of  all  his  faculties.  That  which  disturbs 
the  mind  distracts  thought  and  interferes  with  utter- 
ance. Hence  come  hesitation,  inaccuracy  of  language, 
recalling  words,  and  reconstructing  sentences.  What- 
ever composes  the  mind  brightens  and  invigorates  it. 
As  the  eye  in  an  unclouded  sky  takes  in  all  in  the  range 
of  vision,  so  a  serene  mind  apprehends  according  to  its 
capabilities.  And  as  a  transparent  statement  comes 
only  from  a  clear  intellect  the  utterances  of  the  tongue 
show  a  governing  intelligence  or  lack  of  mental  con- 
centration and  control.  Mental  poise  is  indispensable  to 
easy,  coherent,  effective  speaking. 

In  mental  poise  the  extemporaneous  speaker's  invent- 
ive and  constructive  power  are  appealed  to  and  re- 
spond. Amjjlification,  so  necessary  to  successful  speech, 
is  cultivated  and  disclosed.  Dr.  Durbin  was  a  perfect 
custodian  of  his  endowments.  A  critical  observer  said 
of  John  Wesley,  "The  most  remarkable  thing  about 
him  was,  that  while  he  set  all  in  motion  he  was  himself 
perfectly  calm  and  phlegmatic.  He  was  quiescence  in 
turbulence."    Dr.  Durbin  could 

"  Sit  calm  on  tumult's  wheel." 

In  the  pulpit,  on  the  platform,  in  the  scientific  or  pop- 
ular lecture,  in  the  discussion  of  a  great  subject,  in  the 


EXT E MP  QUIZ  A  TION. 


291 


vast  assembly  and  on  the  floor  of  Conference  his  powers 
were  at  his  command,  and  he  seemed  imperturbable. 
On  the  floor  of  the  General  Conference,  when  he  rose 
to  reply  to  Bishop  Soule,  though  the  Church  was  con- 
vulsed he  was  calm.  And  with  the  grasp  of  a  great 
intellect,  the  appreciation  of  the  weightiest  facts,  he 
towered  in  the  majesty  of  his  soul. 

R.  W.  Emerson  gives  a  striking  illustration  of  the 
wrant  of  mental  poise  in  Dr.  Chancey,  a  distinguished 
minister  of  Boston,  a  century  ago.  As  he  was  about  to 
begin  a  sermon  he  learned  that  a  boy  had  fallen  into 
Frog  Pond  and  was  drowned.  He  was  so  disconcerted 
as  not  to  be  able  to  make  a  direct  prayer,  but  went 
round  and  round.  After  praying  for  Harvard  College 
and  for  the  schools  he  implored  the  divine  Being  to — to 
bless  to  them  all  "the  boy  that  was  this  morning  drowned 
in  the  Frog  Pond."  Emerson  says,  "  This  was  not  want 
of  talent,  but  of  manliness."  This  is  the  man  who  so  dis- 
liked sensational  preaching — of  his  time — that  he  prayed 
that  he  might  never  be  eloquent.  In  this  Emerson  says 
"  his  prayer  was  granted,"  and  yet  he  lacked  what  he 
called  manliness.  Had  he  been  more  composed,  his 
prayer  would  have  shown  a  sensation  better  than  that 
he  evinced.  There  is  an  excitement  that  interest  in  a 
cause  awakens.  Cicero  said  he  never  lost  this  on  rising 
to  speak.  Luther  declared  he  never  entered  the  pulpit 
without  trembling.    This  is  good. 

Want  of  mental  poise  was  witnessed  in  the  late  Dr. 
S.  H.  Tyng,  when  a  young  rector -in  Georgetown,  D.  C. 
He  went  to  church  with  an  intention  to  preach  an 
extemporaneous  discourse.  "  Henry  Clay  and  other 
notables  "  entered  the  church.  Tyng  became  sick  with 
excitement  and  left  his  post.  Why  did  Peter  begin  to 
sink  in  deep  waters  when  Christ  bade  him  come  to 
him  ?    Because  he  looked  at  the  billows  rather  than  at 


292 


JOHN  P.  BUR  BIN. 


the  Saviour.  Looking  at  Clay  made  Tyng  powerless  to 
speak.  But  he  did  not  give  up  his  purpose  to  be  an 
extemporaneous  preacher,  and  for  precision,  fluency,  force 
and  eloquence,  became  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of 
pulpit  ability.  "A  too  earnest  desire  to  speak  well  is 
almost  sure  to  make  us  speak  ill." 

A  word  comes  to  the  man  beginning  to  extemporize. 
It  may  not  be  the  best  for  his  purpose.  He  pauses; 
another  is  not  at  his  command;  he  is  embarrassed;  he 
stops.  Failure  in  such  way  is  perfectly  natural.  It  were 
innocent  at  such  time  to  realize,  "  A  bird  in  the  hand  is 
worth  two  in  the  bush."  A  word  in  the  mouth  is  worth 
a  score  in  the  vocabulary. 

We  may  name  another  essential  condition, 

4.  Confidence  of  success.  Doubt  in  any  cause  that 
demands  energy  is  half  defeat.  Faith  is  half  victory. 
If  Monsieur  Blondin  lacked  confidence  in  his  ability  to 
perform  his  feats  across  Xiagara  Falls  the  attempt 
would  be  more  than  temerity.  No  one  admires  egotism. 
Self-conceit  causes  disgust ;  hut  there  is  a  self-assertion 
that  enables  one  to  project  his  powers  without  any  dis- 
play of  vanity.  Modesty  has  no  merit  when  it  hin- 
ders a  just  expression  of  what  we  are  called  to  do.  Xo 
one  will  commend  the  humility  in  a  speaker  that  makes 
him  distrust  "the  ability  that  God  giveth." 

An  extemporaneous  speaker,  or  one  wishing  to  be 
such,  rises  to  speak.  What  is  asked  of  him  is  such  a 
command  of  thought  and  his  subject  as  to  employ  ap- 
propriate words.  We  will  suppose  he  is  called  on  for  a 
funeral,  and  an  address  is  proper.  What  point  is  there 
that  the  occasion  offers  that  he  may  not  present  ?  What 
fact  that  it  is  right  to  state  that  he  may  not  name? 
With  the  Scriptures  in  his  memory  what  consolation 
that  the  case  admits  may  he  not  urge  ?  What  exhorta  - 
tion to  the  living  may  he  not  deliver?    If  summoned 


EXTEMP  ORIZA  TION. 


293 


suddenly  to  preach,  is  there  no  doctrine  that  he  has  so 
studied  as  to  be  able  to  explain  and  exhibit  ?  Is  there 
no  history  in  the  Bible,  no  hero  of  the  Old  Testament 
or  saint  of  the  New  that  can  furnish  him  a  theme  ?  All 
men  in  their  places  can  convey  their  thoughts  in  words 
that  any  can  understand.  The  plowman  in  the  field,  the 
woodman  in  the  forest,  can  each  find  words  appropriate 
to  his  wants.  Surely  the  mouth-piece  for  God  can  ex- 
temporize. Let  him  in  what  he  attempts  have  con- 
fidence. When  the  writer,  with  a  young  friend,  was 
beginning  to  exhort,  there  was  in  one  of  the  congrega- 
tions the  maternal  grandfather  of  the  late  Bishop  Cum- 
mins, John  Durborough.  He  was  an  itinerant  preacher 
in  the  early  administration  of  Bishop  Asbury.  To  spe.ik 
before  him  seemed  too  much  for  inexperienced  youth. 
We  told  him  so.  He  made  in  substance  the  following 
reply:  "  If  you  speak  on  a  text  it  is  fair  to  assume  that, 
having  just  studied  it,  you  know  more  about  that  passage 
than  any  one  present ;  therefore  have  confidence.  When- 
ever I  am  in  the  congregation  be  not  embarrassed,  but 
consider  there  is  one  man  praying  for  you  and  be  con- 
fident?'1 Nearly  fifty  years  have  closed  over  the  grave 
of  this  venerated  minister,  but  his  memory  must  ever 
remain  green  in  the  mind  of  the  writer.  His  exhortation 
to  youth  was,  "  Fear  not,  but  be  strong." 

We  know  of  no  condition  essential  to  successful  ex- 
temporaneous speech  that  did  not  meet  in  Dr.  Durbin. 
With  the  sensibility  and  spirituality  that  are  at  the 
foundation  of  pulpit  eloquence  there  was  such  devo- 
tion to  his  purpose,  such  understanding  of  his  theme, 
such  sympathy  with  his  subject,  accompanied  with 
mental  poise,  and  a  confidence  that  facts  justified  him 
in  his  work,  that  he  attained  his  end  because  he  em- 
ployed the  means.  How  much  it  cost  him  to  become 
what  he  was  we  are  not  informed;  but  of  this  we  are 


294 


JOHX  P.  DUB  BIX. 


certain — the  cost  was  not  equal  to  the  profit.  "Without 
wishing  to  disparage  able  ministers  who  pursue  a  dif- 
ferent method,  we  are  allowed  to  exalt  that  in  Dr. 
Durbin  which  presents  him  to  us  as  so  nearly,  if  not 
fully,  the  ideal  orator  actualized,  and  as  making  so  near 
an  approach  in  his  manner  to  the  preaching  of  Christ 
and  his  apostles,  and  as  affording  so  fine  an  exhibition 
of  that  style  of  ministry  which  the  intelligence,  the 
observation,  and  the  Christian  earnestness  of  the  age 
are  coming  more  and  more  to  admire  and  commend. 


11 0  Ml  LET!  C  TASTE  AND  SKILL. 


295 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


Homiletic  Taste  and  Skill. 


,F  Dr.  Durbin's  homiletic  taste  and  skill,  and  of  their 


^  influence  upon  sacred  oratory,  we  may  form  some 
idea  from  the  lessons  that  he  impressed  upon  the  class 
of  young  preachers  that  he  instructed  while  pastor  in 
Philadelphia,  and  from  facts  furnished  as  to  preparation 
and  result. 

In  an  Introduction  which  he  wrote  to  the  /Short  Ser- 
mons on  Important  Subjects,  by  Jonathan  Edmon- 
son, A.M.,  he  expresses  his  view  of  the  kind  of  sermons 
the  people  should  receive  to  secure  the  ends  of  able  and 
faithful  preaching.  Of  Edmonson's  discourses  he  says, 
"  His  style  was  as  varied  as  the  topics  and  the  occa- 
sions." 

Having  noticed  the  intellectual  and  moral  lap<e  of 
the  pulpit  from  the  sixth  to  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
of  the  strange  and  trifling  themes  that  sometimes  en- 
gaged  the  minister,  as  "  Was  Abel  slain  with  a  club  ? 
or,  Of  what  sort  of  wood  was  it  ?  "  "  Of  what  sort  of 
wood  was  Moses's  rod  ?  "  "  Was  the  gold  which  the 
Magi  offered  to  Christ  coined  or  in  mass?"  he  turns 
from  "  the  Dark  Ages"  to  the  time  of  the  Reformation 
and  to  the  subjects  that  then  engaged  the  preacher. 
These  were  "  controversial  and  speculative  ; "  the  di- 
dactic had  become  tedious.  The  public  mind  became 
fatigued  with  the  dry  theological  discussions,  "and, 
having  settled  down  upon  the  fundamental  principles 
of  Christianity,  required  that  these  should  be  adorned 


296 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


and  recommended  by  eloquence,  which  had  become  the 
powerful  instrument  in  forming  and  directing  men's 
minds.  This  produced  a  class  of  rhetorical  sermoniz- 
ers,  in  which  may  be  placed  Bourdaloue,  Massillon, 
Bossuet,  Saurin,  Tillotson,  Atterbury,  Blair,  Davies, 
and  others. 

"  Of  these  various  classes  of  sermons  the  controver- 
sial are  unacceptable  to  the  present  peaceful  age  ; 
the  doctrinal  are  not  sought  after  by  the  multitude;  the 
rhetorical  are  read  chiefly  for  the  pleasure  they  afford  us 
specimens  of  sacred  oratory.  None  of  them  address 
themselves  to  the  multitude;  and  yet  the  characteristic 
of  the  age  is,  that  the  multitude  demand  and  must  re- 
ceive instruction  in  every  department  of  knowledge. 
The  pulpit  is  required  to  furnish  sanctified  literature 
for  the  masses,"  ...  in  a  short  and  plain  sermons." 
These  he  recommends  in  the  discourses  of  Mr.  Edmon- 
son, who  was  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of  a  sound, 
devout,  able,  and  earnest  Wesleyan  preacher.  His  ser- 
mons have  excellence  of  style,  force  of  logic,  fullness 
of  matter,  and  are  adapted  to  alarm  the  careless  and 
edify  the  Christian. 

Dr.  Durbin  speaks  of  Mr.  Edmonson  as  discussing 
topics  admitted  by  the  sound  portion  of  the  Church,  as 
avoiding  controversy,  and  as  aiming  at  illustration  and 
application.  He  says,  "  The  reader  will  find  in  this 
volume,  expressed  in  perspicuous,  easy,  and  often  forcible 
and  eloquent  language,  the  opinions  of  a  candid  mnn, 
a  good  scholar,  nearly  every  topic  that  can  interest  him 
in  theology,  morals,  and  experience." 

Thus  we  have  the  idea  of  Dr.  Durbin  as  to  what  a 
sermon  should  be,  and  in  one  entitled  "  Christian  Min- 
isters Declare  the  Counsel  of  God  "  we  have  his  forci- 
ble expression  as  to  the  duty,  manners,  spirit,  and  di- 
verse qualifications  of  those  who  preach  the  word. 


IIOMILETIG  TASTE  AND  SKILL. 


297 


But  we  have  from  Dr.  Durbin's  own  pen,  while  ed- 
itor of  The  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal,  April  18, 
1834,  his  clear  and  vigorous  expression  as  to  the  great 
characteristics  of  a  sermon.  His  remarks  are  founded 
on  the  question  in  our  Discipline  of  the  "  matter  and 
manner  of  preaching,"  and  of  the  answers  given  by  the 
book. 

"  1.  To  convince.  2.  To  offer  Christ.  3.  To  invite. 
4.  To  build  up,  and  to  do  this  in  some  measure  in  every 
sermon. 

"  1.  To  convince — that  is,  of  sin.  This  is  the  first 
thing  toward  the  conversion  and  salvation  of  sinners; 
till  this  is  done  nothing  is  done  to  purpose.  To  con- 
vince of  sin  is  indispensable  in  order  to  repentance,  and 
without  repentance  there  is  no  salvation.  In  this  con- 
viction of  sin  two  things  may  be  noticed:  'original  or 
birth  sin,'  or,  in  other  words,  as  our  article  has  it,  the 
corruption  engendered  of  the  offspring  of  Adam, 
whereby  man  is  very  far  gone  from  original  righteous- 
ness, and  of  his  own  nature  inclined  to  evil,  and  that 
continually."  The  present  is  no  time  to  give  up  this 
doctrine  for  the  speculations  and  doctrines  of  men.  It 
is  that  which  the  Church  has  always  held;  that  which 
the  Methodists,  after  the  Reformers,  have  preached  with 
the  power  and  demonstration  of  the  Spirit ;  and  a  great 
multitude  that  no  man  can  number  have  experimentally 
attested  and  do  attest  the  soundness  of  this  doctrine. 
So  that  if  it  be  false  all  these  are  found  false  witnesses 
before  God.  To  convince  men  that  their  moral  nature 
is  defiled  is  a  laborious  and  difficult  task,  especially  in 
this  philosophizing  age,  wherein  there  is  a  strong  tend- 
ency to  the  error  of  the  Pharisees,  the  laying  our  own 
instead  of  the  righteousness  of  Christ  as  the  founda- 
tion of  the  hope  of  salvation.  The  minister  of  Christ 
should  be  clear  in  his  views  on  this  point,  and  must, 


298 


JOHN  P.  LURBIX. 


like  Paul,  be  able  to  reason  from  the  Scriptures  in  its 
support,  and,  withal,  to  make  the  most  pointed  and 
powerful  appeals  to  the  consciences  of  his  hearers  for 
the  truth  of  what  he  preaches. 

Secondly.  Actual  transgression,  both  in  respect  to 
things  enjoined  and  things  forbidden.  Here  the  min- 
ister of  Christ  must  make  much  use  of  that  command- 
ment which  is  exceeding  broad,  and  is  a  discerner 
of  the  thoughts  and  intents  of  the  heart.  The  law 
must  be  preached  not  only  as  the  rule  of  morality  in 
our  conduct  toward  men,  but  as  the  rule  of  piety  in  our 
conduct  toward  God.  When  the  sinner  is  thoroughly 
convinced  of  his  lost  and  wretched  state  and  of  the  utter 
impossibility  of  his  helping  himself,  then 

2.  The  offer  of  Christ  may  be  made  to  him.  In  offer- 
ing Christ  we  offer  all  the  benefits  of  redemption  by 
him.  As  Christ  has  made  an  atonement  for  sin — that 
is,  as  our  second  article  expresses  it,  "  has  reconciled  the 
Father  to  us,"  and  has  obtained  pardon,  adoption,  and 
all  the  privileges  of  the  children  of  God  for  us:  the 
whole  are  implied  in  the  offer  of  Christ,  so  that  if  we 
receive  Christ  we  receive  the  whole.  In  the  offer  of 
Christ  is  implied  also  the  gracious  design  of  God  in 
giving  his  Son  and  of  Christ  in  dying  for  us.  The  de- 
sign respects  all  to  whom  the  offer  is  made.  If  God 
eternally  intended  that  any  part  of  the  human  family 
should  absolutely  perish,  he  could  have  had  no  merciful 
design  concerning  them,  and  consequently  the  offer  of 
Christ  could  not  be  sincerely  made  to  them.  If  Christ 
be  offered  to  us,  then  we  must  receive  him  in  order  to 
be  saved  by  him,  and  the  necessity  of  receiving  him  is 
implied  in  the  offer.  If  we  reject  Christ  we  reject  all 
the  blessings  which  he  has  procured  for  us.  And  here 
it  should  be  recollected  that  the  object  of  faith — that 
object  which  is  to  be  received  by  faith,  and  on  receiv- 


HOMILETIC  TASTE  A XD  SKILL. 


299 


ing  of  which  the  sinner  is  freely  justified — is  not  what 
God  will  do  for  him,  but  what  he  has  already  done.  It 
is  true  that  lie  who  cometh  to  God  must  believe  that 
"  He  is,  and  that  he  is  a  re  warder  of  all  them  that  dili- 
gently seek  him."  But  this  is  not  the  object  on  which 
justifying  faith  chiefly  acts,  and  on  the  receiving  of 
which  the  sinner  is  justified.  This  object  is  Christ  cru- 
cified for  us. 

3.  To  invite.  To  bid  sinners  come  to  Christ  and  to 
the  provisions  which  he  has  made  in  the  Gospel  for 
them.  Here  it  is  proper  to  enlarge  upon  the  love  of 
God  and  the  grace  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  to  show 
the  freeness  and  abundance  of  God's  provisions;  and  to 
employ  the  entreaty  and  expostulation  of  the  sacred 
Scriptures  with  the  sinner  to  bring  him  to  Christ,  or  to 
induce  him  to  receive  Christ. 

4.  To  build  up  in  grace  and  holiness  those  who  have 
received  Christ.  Here  is  ample  room  for  the  exercise 
of  all  the  skill  of  the  minister.  The  believer  is  at  first 
but  a  babe  in  knowledge  and  skill  and  strength.  He  is 
required  to  go  on  to  perfection;  but  many  trials  and 
difficulties  lie  in  his  way.  He  still  needs  a  guide  and  a 
sympathizing  friend.  The  minister  is  to  be  that  guide 
and  friend,  and  to  accomplish  the  object  he  must  enter 
into  all  the  circumstances  of  the  different  cases  that 
exist  in  the  flock  over  which  he  is  appointed  to  watch. 

If  there  be  want  of  zeal  and  earnestness,  he  must 
admonish.  If  there  be  a  sickly  state  of  soul,  the  par- 
ticular cause  must  be  searched  out  and  guarded  against, 
whether  it  be  temptation  or  sin,  or  wrant  of  information 
on  some  point  of  doctrine,  duty,  or  privilege.  When 
the  cause  is  ascertained,  the  cure  will  be  suggested. 
The  minister  of  the  Gospel  is  to  watch  over  his  charge 
and  lead  them  on  to  the  perfection  of  holiness.  This 
he  cannot  do  by  dealing  in  generalities.    The  minister 


300 


JOHN  P.  DUB  BIX. 


who  contents  himself  with  saying  on  all  occasions, 
"  you  must  be  faithful,"  or  "you  must  live  nearer  the 
Lord,"  is  like  the  physician  who  never  distinguishes 
the  nature  and  cause  of  one  disease  from  another,  but 
prescribes  the  same  remedy  in  all  cases. 

The  above  are  to  be  the  general  subjects  of  our  pul- 
pit discourses.  A  little  different  view  of  them  is  sug- 
gested by  the  threefold  office  of  Christ,  that  of 
prophet,  priest,  and  king.  A  preacher  may  find  other 
subjects  adapted  to  please  the  curious  and  philosophiz- 
ing ;  but  if  he  be  a  minister  of  Christ  and  seeks  the 
spiritual  edification  of  his  nock  he  will  have  little 
oceasion  for  a  greater  variety  than  the  above  heads 
will  yield  him. 

The  end  of  all  preaching  and  of  all  ministerial  labor 
is  to  build  up  the  spiritual  temple  of  God,  and  to  bring 
forth  the  top  stone  with  shouting  "  Grace,  grace  unto 
it."  The  ministers  of  Christ  should  never  lose  sight  of 
this,  nor  satisfy  themselves  witli  the  incidental  mention 
of  it,  or  occasionally  teaching  it  more  largely.  Their 
preaching  and  praying  should  all  have  a  direct  tendency 
to  this  end.  It  should  enter  into  their  private  instruc- 
tions and  their  whole  intercourse  with  mankind.  Then, 
and  not  till  then,  will  both  ministry  and  people  be 
imbued  with  the  spirit  of  holiness.  God  will  dwell 
among  men,  and  the  whole  earth  shall  be  full  of  the 
glory  of  God. 

It  is  hardly  possible  to  speak  of  this  exhibition  of  the 
duty  of  the  pulpit  in  terms  equal  to  its  merit.  At  this 
day,  when  men  are  pressed  on  all  sides  by  tastes  and 
tendencies  and  innovations  that  touch  the  minister  at 
every  point,  how  difficult  may  it  seem  to  keep  in  the 
plain  path  marked  out  by  the  Son  of  God ;  and  yet  the 
day  that  sees  the  rigor  of  conscience  relax  as  to  proper 
duty,  as  to  our  specific  call  and  necessary  work,  the  day 


UOMILETIC  TASTE  AND  SKILL. 


301 


that  sees  any  tiling  in  the  pulpit  not  in  consonance  with 
this  conviction — no  matter  with  what  ingenuity  and  skill 
presented — will  be  a  day  of  gloom  as  real,  if  not  as 
painful,  as  was  known  in  the  "Dark  Ages."  The  light 
of  the  pulpit  is  the  light  of  truth  ;  that  truth  is  to  re- 
cover the  lost,  exalt  the  depressed,  refine  the  impure, 
dignify  the  abject,  and  show  society  something  of  the 
first  Paradise — the  prelude  to  that  heavenly  state  for 
which  the  Gospel  is  the  only  means  of  preparing 
men. 

Dr.  Durbin's  sermons  were  constructed  on  the  prin- 
ciples of  homiletic  art.  There  was  order,  progress,  and 
climax.  In  all  that  he  prepared  there  was  implicit 
respect  to  the  result.  Whether  he  inverted  a  sentence 
or  transposed  a  paragraph  or  changed  the  number  or 
place  of  a  proposition,  he  kept  before  him  the  sense  of 
the  sacred  writer,  and  strove  by  all  the  means  that  logic 
and  rhetoric  furnished  to  present  it  in  the  fullest  sense 
and  'with  the  greatest  force.  Progress  teas  an  essential 
condition  of  success.  This  was  as  really  the  case  with 
his  matter  as  with  his  voice  and  manner.  His  sermons 
were  formed  to  instruct,  impress,  and  move. 

As  in  architecture  there  is  the  foundation  and  the 
"  top  stone  " — there  is  the  purpose,  the  plan  and  the 
building — so  he  had  the  place  for  every  part  necessary 
to  the  intellectual  structure. 

As  the  osseous  system  is  essential  to  the  human  or- 
ganization, so  is  a  skeleton  to  a  sermon.  There  must 
be  something  to  build  on.  As  through  the  entire 
length  of  the  spinal  column  there  runs  what  may  be 
called  brain  matter,  so  in  every  well  constructed  dis- 
course there  must  run  the  matter  that  shows  a  sound 
and  disciplined  mind.  The  part  of  an  oration  that  mind 
does  not  influence  fails  to  show  the  orator.  Passion  is 
not  enough.    Thought  must  kindle  passion,  as  passion 


302 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


awakened  emotions.  This  Dr.  Durbin  realized.  His 
respect  to  result  expresses  itself  in  strongest  language. 

The  introductions  to  Dr.  Durbin's  sermons  were 
varied  by  subjects  and  circumstances.  One  might  be 
formed  from  a  scriptural  fact  or  from  the  occasion  of 
the  passage  ;  another  from  a  philosophical  principle  or 
an  event  of  history.  Pertinence  was  the  governing  law. 
As  a  rule  it  was  brief  and  direct.  One  thing  bore 
upon  another  and  there  was  nothing  useless.  He  had 
none  of  the  abruptness  of  Sterne,  who  began  with  "  that 
I  deny;"  nor  the  elaboration  that  Richard  Winter  Ham- 
ilton shows,  especially  as  we  see  him  in  a  sermon  on  the 
Last  Judgment,  from  the  text  Rev.  xx,  11-13:  "I  saw 
a  great  white  throne  and  Him  that  sat  on  it."  After  a 
most  vivid  exhibition  of  Bishop  Massillon,  on  the  occa- 
sion of  a  royal  funeral,  closing  with  the  expression 
"there  is  nothing  great  but  God,"  Hamilton  says, 
"There  is  nothing  solemn  but  the  judgment,"  Then 
he  declares:  "The  thunder-storm  is  solemn,  when 
lightnings  as  arrows  shoot  abroad,  when  the  peals 
startle  up  the  nations,  when  the  dread  artillery  rushes 
along  the  sky.  But  what  is  it  to  that  far-resounding 
crash,  louder  than  the  roar  and  bellow  of  ten  thousand 
thousands,  which  shall  pierce  the  deepest  channels  and 
which  all  the  dead  shall  hear? 

"The  ocean  tempest  is  solemn  when  the  huge  billows 
lift  up  their  crests,  when  mighty  armaments  are  wrecked 
by  their  fury,  when  the  proudest  barks  are  shattered, 
broken  as  the  foam,  scattered  as  the  spray.  But  what 
is  this  to  that  commotion  of  the  deep  when  its  proud 
waves  '  shall  no  more  be  stayed,'  its  ancient  barriers 
be  no  more  observed,  the  largest  channels  be  emptied, 
and  the  deepest  abyss  be  dried  ? 

"The  earthquake  is  solemn  when,  without  warning, 
cities  totter  and  kingdoms  and  islands  flee  away.  But 


110 Ml LKTI G  TASTE  AND  SKILL. 


303 


what  is  it  to  that  tremor  which  shall  convulse  our  globe, 
dissolving  every  law  of  attraction,  severing  every  prin- 
ciple of  aggregation,  heaving  all  into  chaos,  and  heap- 
ing all  into  ruin?  The  volcano  is  solemn  when  its  cone 
of  fire  shoots  to  the  heavens,  crimsoning  the  zenith  with 
its  portentous  blaze,  while  from  its  burning  entrails 
lava  rushes  to  overspread  distant  plains  and  to  overtake 
flying  peoples.  But  what  is  that  to  the  conflagration 
in  which  all  the  palaces  and  the  temples  and  citadels 
of  the  earth  shall  be  consumed  ?  " 

Of  the  merits  of  that  composition,  of  its  terrific 
grandeur,  we  need  say  nothing  ;  but  are  we  not  justified 
in  asserting  this  ought  not  to  be  an  example  for  an  in- 
troduction? In  all  the  sermon  there  is  not  such  another 
passage.  Was  this  the  place  for  it  ?  Dr.  Durbin's 
purpose  would  not  allow  such  an  introduction.  It  is 
said  of  Dr.  John  M.  Mason  that  on  one  occasion  he  be- 
gan a  sermon  with  rapping  three  times  upon  the  pulpit 
and  saying,  "  A  voice  from  the  eternal  world  addresses 
you,"  and  then  announced  the  text,  and  at  once  the  con- 
gregation showed  emotion.  Yet,  as  a  remarkable  fact, 
he  held  the  closest  attention  of  the  people  to  the  close 
of  the  sermon.  Few  men  could  accomplish  such  a  re- 
sult. Certainly  this  was  not  his  habit.  We  never  saw 
it  in  Dr.  Durbin.  In  his  sermon  in  the  Methodist 
Preacher,  founded  on  John  i,  1,  "  In  the  beginning  was 
the  Word,  and  the  Word  was  with  God,  and  the 
Word  was  God,"  the  theme  is  the  "Character  and  Mis- 
sion of  Jesus  Christ."  He  begins  this  simply:  "By 
consulting  the  fourteenth  and  eighteenth  verses  we  learn 
how  the  text  regards  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  and  the 
whole  is  predicated  of  him."  This  was  one  of  his  great 
sermons  preached  while  he  was  at  Augusta  College, 
Kentucky.  On  the  same  theme  he  preached  for  two 
hours  at  Vincentown,  N.  J.,  and  such  was  the  influence 


304 


JOHX  P.  BUB  BIX. 


against  the  error  of  Elias  Hicks  as  to  keep  the  sermon 
in  perpetual  memory.  Six  lines  comprehend  his  in- 
troduction. 

His  sermon  on  the  "  Omnipresence  of  God"  is  from 
the  text,  2  Chron.  vi,  18,  "Will  God  in  very  deed  dwell 
with  men  on  the  earth  ?  Behold  heaven  and  the  heaven 
of  heavens  cannot  contain  thee;  how  much  less  this 
house  which  I  have  built."  The  introduction  covers  a 
half  page. 

With  a  sermon  so  introduced  he  would  raise  his  prop- 
osition or  divide  his  text.  Then  he  began  an  exposition 
that  was  usually  calm,  clear,  and  luminous;  not  permit- 
ting himself  to  impair  his  purpose  by  consuming  too 
much  time  in  the  earlier  parts  of  his  discourse. 

Arguments,  narratives,  illustrations  came  in  natural 
order.  But  application — what  our  fathers  called  the 
"  life  of  preaching  " — was  to  Dr.  Durbin  a  strong  hope 
for  the  moral  effect  and  permanent  result  of  the  dis- 
course. His  peroration  was  the  place  of  concentrated 
thought  and  power. 

He  expresses  caution  against  being  "  too  diffuse  and 
minute  in  the  first  part  of  the  discussion,  leaving  but 
little  time  for  the  latter  pnrt,  which  is  generally  the 
most  important."  He  says,  "  Probably  the  preacher 
ought  never  to  exhaust  himself  on  his  subject  ;  certainly 
not  in  the  first  part  of  his  discourse.  His  matter  ought 
to  increase  in  interest  and  importance,  to  the  close,  and 
the  expenditure  of  his  strength  and  energy  ought  to  in- 
crease with  the  increase  of  his  matter.  In  this  way  the 
services  terminate  with  a  powerful  and  abiding  impres- 
sion, under  the  influence  of  which  the  people  depart  to 
their  homes.  Such  a  sermon  on  ordinary  occasions  need 
rarely  exceed  three  quarters  of  an  hour.  This  leaves 
time  for  hymns  and  suitable  prayer.  If  there  be  any 
two  things  of  the  prudential  and  discretionary  kind 


HOMILETIC  TASTE  AND  SKILL. 


305 


more  important  than  others  to  the  success  of  the 
preacher  of  the  word  of  God  they  are  these  : 

"  1.  Judgment  and  discretion  in  the  selection  of  a 
subject.  Recollect  the  subject  is  the  object  of  the  se- 
lection rather  than  the  text  ;  the  text  is  the  occasion 
generally  to  discuss  the  subject. 

"2.  So  arrange  the  matter  that  it  will  not  make  your 
sermon  too  long,  seizing  upon  the  strong  and  practical 
points  in  it  and  not  attempting  to  exhaust  every  point, 
and  in  doing  this,  if  possible,  and  it  generally  is,  throw 
the  most  interesting  part  or  parts  of  it  toward  the  close, 
and  often  dispose  of  one  division  of  the  subject  by  way 
of  application  if  it  be  copious." 

In  studying  Dr.  Durbin's  power  as  a  preacher  we  may 
consider : 

IT  The  general  character  of  his  sermons.  In  the 
specimens  of  the  discourses  furnished  we  can  see  his 
skill  in  treating  subjects  in  the  various  departments  of 
homiletic  teaching.  They  were  expositions,  illustra- 
tions, and  divine  orations.  His  themes  corresponded 
with  his  purpose  and  his  plans  were  suited  to  his  de- 
sign. His  texts  presented  ample  matter  for  discussion 
and  declamation,  for  philosophy,  poetry,  and  the  high- 
est Christian  eloquence.  They  sometimes  permitted 
speculation,  which  he  was  quick  to  perceive  and  careful 
to  guard. 

Evremont  advises  the  minister  to  "make  choice  of  such 
subjects  as  are  susceptible  of  ornament  and  energy." 
To  a  nature  capable  of  apprehending  or  appreciating 
things  according  to  their  claim  a  great  theme  induces 
great  thoughts,  and  these  in  turn  compel  vigorous  and 
elevated  language.  Genius  asks  scope,  and  eloquence 
will  have  fullness  and  freedom. 

Sublime  artists  and  poets  give  proof  of  this  demnnd. 
Rubens  sought  immortality  in  the  "Crucifixion;"  Ra- 
21 


306 


JOHN  P.  DUKBIN. 


phael,  in  the  "Transfiguration;"  Michael  Angelo,  in  the 
"Last  Judgment;"  our  own  West,  in  "Death  on  the 
Pale  Horse."  Homer  lives  in  the  "  Illiad;"  Milton,  in 
"Paradise  Lost;"  and  Dante,  in  "The  Vision."  Tins 
includes  paradise,  purgatory,  and  perdition.  Great 
sermons  are  associated  with  great  subjects.  Thus  we 
have  Bourdaloue  in  "The  Passion  ;  "  Barrow  on  "The 
Resurrection  of  Christ;"  and  Massillon  on  "The  Small 
Number  of  the  Elect;"  Howe  on  "The  Redeemer's 
Tears  over  Lost  Souls  ;  "  McLaurin  on  "  Glorying  in  the 
cross ;  "  Edwards  on  "Sinners  in  the  Hands  of  an  Angry 
God."  Amid  the  great  number  of  sermons  that  we  read 
from  Hugh  Blair,  with  high  admiration  of  the  beauty 
of  his  rhetoric,  where  is  there  one  that  for  its  grandeur 
makes  such  an  appeal  as  that  on  "  Father,  the  hour  is 
come  " — the  death  of  Christ  ? 

Great  subjects  are  found  in  every  department  of 
Christian  teaching.  They  may  be  doctrinal,  exper- 
imental, or  practical.  They  may  be  expository,  textual, 
or  topical.  Types  and  parables,  biography  and  history 
offer  themes  to  interest  the  mind,  to  touch  the  con- 
science, and  to  subdue  the  heart.  Dr.  Durbin  employed 
all. 

He  presented  symmetry  in  the  body  of  truth.  Every 
doctrine  had  its  place  and  purpose.  Essential  truth 
gave  him  gretit  themes,  such  as  "  The  Omnipresence  of 
God,"  "  The  Incarnation,"  "  The  Character  and  Mission 
of  Jesus  Christ,"  "The  Atonement,"  "The  Conversion 
of  Saul  of  Tarsus,"  "The  Resurrection,"  "The 
Word  of  God  Abiding  in  Us,"  "  The  Signs  of  the 
Times,"  and  "  Divine  Providence."  These  subjects  in- 
duced sublime  thoughts.  As  he  who  would  rear  a  ma- 
jestic structure  must  have  a  strong  foundation,  or  as 
the  tree  that  is  exposed  to  storm  and  tempest  can  only 
war  with  the  elements  and  retain  its  place  by  having 


HOMILETIC  TASTE  AND  SKILL.  307 

sufficient  soil,  and  sending  down  and  out  its  roots,  so  his 
ministry  respected  the  means  of  stability  and  support. 

His  preaching  looked  to  the  conviction,  conversion, 
and  profiting  of  men.  To  fell  the  forest  requires  a  ro- 
bust woodman  ;  but  he  has  honor  who  cultivates  the 
grounds  so  cleared.  The  psalmist,  speaking  of  building 
the  temple,  says,  "  A  man  was  famous  according  as  he 
had  lifted  up  axes  upon  the  thick  trees."  Thick  trees 
fell  under  the  stroke  of  Dr.  Durbin.  But  he  knew  and 
improved  the  soil  and  gathered  of  the  fruits. 

His  ministry  was  not  weakened  by  dangerous  theo- 
logical speculation.  He  did  not  add  to  or  take  from  the 
words  of  the  book,  nor  mystify  the  manifest.  He  had 
an  active  mind  and  an  inventive  genius.  It  was  quite 
common  with  him  to  suggest  an  inquiry  that  philosophy 
might  prompt  in  relation  to  things  not  revealed.  Then 
he  showed  vigor  of  reasoning  and  plausibility  of  con- 
jecture. It  imparted  the  interest  that  novelty  gives, 
and  served  to  enlarge,  if  it  did  not  brighten,  the  realm 
of  thought.  But  it  was  in  profound  submission  to  the 
written  word.  This  was  calculated  to  exalt  rather  than 
depress  faith.  He  well  knew  our  perpetual  tendency 
and  multiplied  temptations  to  lean  to  our  own  under- 
standing ;  that  a  cultivated  mind  is  prone  to  depart 
from  the  simplicity  that  is  in  Christ.  He  was  not  a 
stranger  to  the  lures  that  offer  and  the  diversions  that 
are  so  easy  and  frequent.  He  would  consider  a  weak 
faith  one  of  the  saddest  things  in  its  effect  upon  the 
ministry.  It  compels  weak  utterances.  He  cannot  be 
called  a  "  preacher  of  the  word  "  who  does  not  know 
the  word  to  preach.  The  language  of  his  labor  was, 
"  The  prophet  that  hath  a  dream,  let  him  tell  a  dream  ; 
and  he  that  hath  my  word,  let  him  speak  my  word  faith- 
fully." While  he  acknowledged  there  is  much  that  is 
unknown  in  relation  to  the  future,  as  there  certainly  is 


308 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


in  regard  to  the  present,  he  felt,  as  does  the  true  scien- 
tist, that  the  unknown  is  not  to  impair  the  power  of  the 
known,  or  to  lessen  the  effort  of  securing  from  it  all 
that  it  offers.  He  who  knows  God,  and  Jesus  Christ 
whom  he  hath  sent — he  who  knows  that  he  is  born  of 
God,  and  possesses  the  peace  that  he  gives — knows  some- 
thing; knows  that  he  has  not  followed  fables.  Dr. 
Durbin  spoke  with  authority. 

His  preaching  was  not  distinguished  as  polemical. 
He  had  a  creed  and  he  preached  it.  In  some  instances 
he  encountered  an  error  with  directness  and  vigor,  as 
when  in  his  early  ministry  he  delivered  his  famous  ser- 
mon in  the  West  on  the  "  Deity  of  Christ."  He  was 
not  ostentatious  of  his  ability  as  a  logician  in  seeking  to 
show  how  he  could  demolish  a  difficulty  or  annihilate  an 
adversary.  He  rather  projected  truth  than  fought  error. 
He  expelled  the  one  by  making  place  for  the  other. 
His  treatment  was  systemic.  He  was  like  the  physi- 
cian who  builds  up  the  constitution  to  overcome  the 
infirmity,  and  by  moral  means  secures  natural  ends. 

Christian  apologetics  had  only  due  place  in  his  min- 
istry. With  him  the  pulpit  was  not  the  professor's 
chair.  He  could  defend  the  Scriptures  in  the  evidences 
furnished  by  their  necessity,  inspiration  and  benefits. 
But  his  custom  was  u  to  preach  the  word."  He  had  less 
rubbish  to  remove  than  truth  to  offer.  He  did  not 
make  fruitless  attempts  to  convince  men's  minds,  when 
he  knew  that  their  hearts  presented  the  citadel  to  at- 
tack. It  was  wittily  said  by  a  great  statesman,  when 
Bishop  "Watson  wrote  his  Apology  for  the  Bible, 
that  the  Bible  needs  no  apology.  Of  Dr.  Durbin  we 
may  say  the  Scriptures  commanded  his  reason,  inspired 
his  confidence,  and  satisfied  his  noblest  aspiration.  He 
found  Scripture  history  sustained  by  facts,  Bible  doc- 
trines the  necessity  of  the  race,  and  showed  the  influ- 


UOMILETIC  TASTE  AND  SKILL. 


309 


ence  of  its  moral  precepts  in  exalting  a  nation  and  in 
purifying  and  honoring  men. 

He  was  pre-eminently  a  preacher  of  fundamental 
truths.  To  this  be  was  called;  in  this  he  delighted; 
and  the  results  of  this  that  he  witnessed  satisfied  him 
that  to  this  no  merely  aesthetical  or  metaphysical  preach- 
ing bears  any  comparison.  He  sought  to  u  make  the 
tree  good  that  the  fruit  might  be  good  also."  He  in- 
sisted, therefore,  that  neither  circumcision  nor  uncircum- 
cision  avails  any  thing,  but  a  new  creature,  and  that 
without  holiness  no  man  shall  see  the  Lord.  Dr. 
Durbin  knew  that  in  Christianity  Jesus  Christ  is  "  all 
in  all ; "  that  he  is  our  rock  of  stability  and  defense. 

Some  of  his  discourses  were  highly  expository.  He 
loved  the  logical,  and  frequently  made  his  sermons  on  a 
theme  before  selecting  his  text. 

Analysis  was  the  habit  of  his  mind,  yet  the  synthet- 
ical found  large  place  in  his  preaching.  He  was  fond 
of  the  psychological  treatment  of  subjects.  This  he 
used  to  achieve  the  best  results.  He  looked  at  princi- 
ples that,  though  unconsciously  to  ourselves,  influence 
conduct — principles  that  are  ns  real,  though  not  recog- 
nized, as  the  intuitions.  By  close  observation,  by  nat- 
ural tendency,  by  rational  processes,  he  detected  and 
exposed  the  springs  of  moral  action. 

As  the  astute  statesman  by  broader  observation  and 
deeper  insight  foretells  results  of  legislation  or  govern- 
ment, and  the  course  of  events  that  astonishes  the  less 
acute,  so  he,  by  discussing  "  mind-nature,"  revealed  to 
men  facts  in  their  own  bosom  that  they  had  failed  to 
recognize,  but  that,  being  now  made  manifest,  they 
were  compelled  to  acknowledge  in  the  obligations  that 
they  involved.  Such  reasoning  is  to  our  consciousness 
what  introspection  in  the  Christian  is  to  the  heart.  It 
gives  to  conscience  the  greater  grip,  and  compels  con- 


310 


JOIJX  P.  DURBIX. 


viction  to  assert  itself.  But  we  are  not  to  suppose  that 
he  indulged  in  terminology  that  perplexed  the  hearer, 
or  that  he  dealt  in  the  abstruse  or  recondite,  that  true 
oratory  forbids.  Metaphysical  labyrinths  were  con- 
demned alike  by  his  intelligence  and  his  purpose.  It 
was  only  as  people  followed  him  here  that  he  obtained 
the  desired  response. 

Thus  to  an  enlightened  conscience  he  held  up  the 
mirror  and  compelled  men  to  see  themselves,  or  pre- 
sented scales  the  accuracy  of  which  was  accepted  and 
constrained  men  to  weigh  themselves,  and  acknowledge 
they  were  "  found  wanting." 

His  sermon  in  Pulpit  Eloquence  of  the  Nineteenth 
Century  shows  this  character  of  preaching.  "  Will  God 
in  very  deed  dwell  with  men  on  the  earth  ?"  2  Chron. 
vi,  18.  He  sees  in  "the  constitution  of  men,  the  nature 
of  reason,  the  observation  of  every  day,  the  conscious- 
ness of  each  pure  heart,  the  mission  and  testimony  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  that  a  sense  of  continual  personal  om- 
nipresence of  Jehovah  is  the  most  powerful  restraint  on 
vice  and  the  most  efficient  encouragement  to  virtue." 
F.  V.  Reinhard,  the  illustrious  "Court  Preacher  "  at 
Dresden,  furnishes  a  fine  example  of  such  preaching  in 
his  sermon  on  John  the  Baptist,  as  given  by  Professor  Ed- 
wards A.  Park  in  the  sixth  volume  of  Bibliotheca  Sacra. 

Saurin's  sermon  on  "  the  Passions  "  was  pronounced 
by  John  Foster  one  of  the  best  specimens  of  such  dis- 
course in  the  language.  Bishop  Butler's  sermon  on 
"  Human  Nature  "  illustrates  the  highest  skill  in  this 
kind  of  pulpit  appeal. 

Of  the  same  class  is  the  celebrated  sermon  of  Dr. 
Chalmers  on  the "  Expulsive  Power  of  a  New  Affec- 
tion;"  of  like  nature  is  Bushnell's  admirable  discourse  on 
"  Unconscious  Influence."  In  this  grand  category  we 
place  the    eloquent    sermon  of   Dr.    McClintock  in 


H0M1LETJC  TASTE  A  XL  SKILL.  31 1 

Pulpit  Eloquence  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.  The  sub- 
ject is  "  the  ground  of  man's  love  to  God." 

It  requires  a  high  order  of  intellect  to  produce  its 
proper  power;  but  here  Dr.  Durbin  was  a  master.  He 
reasoned  like Paley;  he  searched  like  Butler  ;  he  warmed 
like  Massillon  ;  he  subdued  and  conquered  like  Wesley. 
Shall  we  call  this  psychological  probing  ?  The  rather 
let  us  say,  Jloral  vivisection.  Only  the  soul  can  certify 
the  scrutiny.  It  was  like  Nathan's  parable  to  David 
to  impress  the  sin  of  the  sovereign. 

With  what  delicacy  and  deference  did  he  prepare 
the  case  and  address  the  king!  How  perfectly  did  he 
conduct  the  parable  to  awaken  the  indignation  of  a 
man  by  an  appeal  to  moral  consciousness  !  In  all  the 
concealment  of  his  design  how  fairly  and  fully  did  he 
%  obtain  a  verdict  of  an  inward  but  now  outspoken  con- 
viction of  moral  right  !  Thus  is  it  in  the  kind  of 
preaching  of  which  we  now  write.  Truth  is  exhibited; 
her  claim  is  so  clearly  shown,  the  evil  of  the  sin  is  so 
manifest,  that  the  man  pronounces  sentence  upon  him- 
self. This  is  individualizing.  It  is  thus  that  God 
says,  "Out  of  thy  own  mouth  will  I  judge  thee."  This 
is  tremendous  preaching.  It  is  moral  consciousness  that 
has  become  the  preacher.  The  pulpit  has  fired  on  the 
fortress,  and  there  is  war  within. 

But  Dr.  Durbin  knew  how  men  become  Christians 
indeed,  and  he  struck  at  the  conscience,  that  "  main 
pillar  of  the  soul,"  which  amid  all  the  ruins  of  the  fall 
gives  evidence  of  the  original  grandeur  of  the  moral 
temple.  Before  the  highest  tribunal  on  earth  he  ar- 
raigned the  sinner  and  mnde  him  tremble,  and  when 
conscience  failed  in  its  functions  he  caused  the  truth 
of  God  to  flash  into  the  darkest  corners  of  the  heart, 
and  showed  the  chamber  of  images  with  all  kinds  of 
idolatry  and  odious  objects. 


312 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN 


Did  ever  any  mere  roan  possess  the  power  to  make 
a  bold  and  startling  statement  of  the  most  weighty 
truth  greater  than  he  sometimes  did,  when  his  soul  was 
full  of  his  subject  and  the  end  for  which  he  labored 
made  the  demand  ? 

The  writer  is  indebted  to  Edward  Sargent,  Esq.,  of 
Cincinnati,  for  the  following  illustration.  He  says  : 
"  Dr.  Durbin  was  preaching  a  sermon  on  the  general 
judgment,  and  in  the  course  of  it  said  the  general 
judgment  might  last  an  indefinite  length  of  time,  ' per- 
haps ten  thousand  years,'  and  then,  with  a  flash  in  his 
eye,  said,  '  the  damnation  of  the  sinner  would  then  come 
soon  enough.'  " 


THE  LORD'S  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  313 


CHAPTER  XIX. 
The  Lord's  Call  to  the  Ministry. 

A CONSCIOUS  call  to  the  ministry  is  both  an  inspi- 
ration to  duty  and  a  guard  against  discouragement 
in  the  work. 

In  secular  pursuits  men  justly  make  their  choice. 
Their  future  is  at  their  disposal,  and  they  are  responsi- 
ble for  its  results.  Having  freedom  of  action  they  may 
consult  their  tastes,  their  talents,  and  their  opportuni- 
ties. Their  supposed  interests  influence  their  conclu- 
sions, and  excellence  and  success  may  be  anticipated 
where  the  widest  doors  open  and  aptitudes  and  prefer- 
ences are  indulged.  But  a  call  to  the  ministry  is  of 
God.  He  who  from  the  beginning  has  had  a  cause  in 
the  earth  has  had  his  own  way  of  sustaining  and  ad- 
vancing it.  Moses  saw  God  in  the  burning  bush  and 
heard  his  voice  from  the  flame.  The  tribe  of  Levi  was 
separated  for  the  tabernacle,  and  he  inspired  the 
prophets.  Isaiah  responded  to  his  appeal  amid  the 
glory  that  filled  the  temple  and  awed  the  six- 
winged  seraphim,  when  his  tongue  was  touched  with 
a  "live  coal  from  off  the  altar."  To  Jeremiah  God 
said,  "  Whatsoever  I  command  thee  thou  shalt  speak." 
Paul  was  a  chosen  vessel  to  bear  his  name  to  the  Gen- 
tiles and  to  the  kings  and  to  the  children  of  Israel. 
To  his  apostles  he  said,  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world  and 
preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature."  The  commission 
to  preach  remains  with  the  divine  head,  and  "  no  man 
taketh  this  honor  to  himself  but  he  that  is  called  of  God, 


314 


JOHX  P.  LUX  BIX. 


as  was  Aaron."  Greatly  as  he  has  honored  the  Church 
in  her  labors  to  extend  his  kingdom,  positive  as  is  the 
aid  that  his  people  often  render  the  student  in  prepar- 
ing for  his  work,  and  manifest  as  is  the  power  of  the 
faithful  in  sustaining  him  when  in  the  field,  the  au- 
thority to  preach  is  from  a  higher  source.  This  the 
Church  recognizes  when  she  asks  the  candidate,  "Do 
you  trust  that  you  are  inwardly  moved  by  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  take  upon  you  the  office  of  ministration  ?  " 

Respect  for  the  offices,  the  functions,  and  usefulness 
of  the  minister  might  induce  an  earnest  Christian  to 
desire  the  place,  and  one  might  reason  from  his  natural 
endowments,  his  educational  advantages,  his  mother's 
prayers,  and  his  father's  wishes,  and  ask  himself  whether 
it  is  not  his  duty  to  preach  ?  If  after  the  careful 
searching  of  his  heart,  rigorous  analysis  of  his  motives, 
and  humble  prayer  to  know  the  will  of  God,  the  im- 
pression is  made,  and  stirs  the  soul  to  such  effort,  he 
may  accept  it  as  the  inward  call.  If  then  in  attempting 
to  speak  he  has  the  help  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  the 
Church  witnesses  his  "gifts,  grace,  and  usefulness " — 
if  providence  opens  the  way  and  seems  to  point  out  this 
path — if  in  following  those  indications  the  mind  settles 
in  the  belief  that  God  calls,  we  say  this  is  enough  to 
justify  conviction  of  duty.  This  is  the  outward  call. 
This  ends  anxiety.  He  discriminates  between  a  con- 
ception and  a  consciousness,  between  a  wish  and  an  obli- 
gation. He  then  acts  on  divine  authority,  which  feeling 
is  one  of  the  greatest  forces  that  he  ever  experiences  in 
delivering  his  message. 

It  is  not  himself  speaking  ;  it  is  not  merely  the 
church  that  licensed  him ;  it  is  not  the  ecclesiastical 
economy  that  directs  him,  but  it  is  God  that  speaks 
through  him.  It  is  not  too  much  to  assume  that  a  man 
may  be  conscious  of  such  call.    If  God  by  his  "  Spirit 


THE  LORnS  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 


315 


bears  witness  with  our  spirit "  as  to  our  conversion — if 
the  "Spirit  help  our  infirmities  "  so  that  we  know  the 
things  we  ought  to  pray  for,"  surely  it  is  not  presump- 
tion to  suppose  in  desiring  men  for  the  greatest  work 
on  earth  he  should  satisfy  them  concerning  his  will. 
He  who  called  Samuel  by  a  vocal  utterance  can  now 
speak  by  the  inward  voice  of  his  Spirit,  and  thus  make 
an  indelible  impression  upon  the  mind. 

It  was  for  such  consciousness  that  young  Durbin 
waited.  The  taste  of  his  childhood,  the  wish  of  his 
mother,  his  respect  for  the  ministry,  and  the  exercises 
of  his  mind  were  not  sufficient.  The  mental  struggle 
continued  till  facts  compelled  conviction.  The  search- 
ing question  as  to  his  duty,  coming  from  his  saintly 
grandfather,  went  through  his  soul  with  such  power 
that  it  shook  all  secular  purposes  out  of  his  heart.  The 
observing  church  expressed  its  judgment,  and  the  pre- 
siding elder  sought  his  service ;  such  concurrent  evi- 
dence and  the  influence  of  the  Spirit  satisfied  his 
mind,  and  he  modestly  but  earnestly  entered  upon  his 
work. 

Consciousness  of  a  call  from  God,  and  the  felt  pres- 
ence of  the  Holy  Spirit,  are  the  highest  inspiration  that 
the  preacher  needs.  It  causes  the  obedient  servant  to 
spring  forward  with  a  noble  alacrity  and  with  neces- 
sary determination.  The  soul  rises  into  a  moral  realm, 
where  earthly  ambitions  and  prospects  have  no  influ- 
ence. Gold  has  lost  its  glitter,  fame  its  lure,  and  the 
richest  possessions  fail  to  deter  or  divert  from  duty. 
A  holy  passion  subordinates  all  things  to  its  control. 
With  the  obligation  comes  the  impulse  to  its  discharge. 
He  says,  "This  work  shall  make  my  heart  rejoice." 
Not  less  is  this  consciousness  a  guard  against  all  dis- 
couragements. Profound  as  are  the  convictions  that 
impel  to  action,  powerful  as  is  the  influence  that  urged 


316 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


on  the  young  preacher,  he  will  become  familiar  with 
trials  which  this  consciousness  alone  will  overcome. 

(a.)  There  may  be  physical  suffering  that  will  test  de- 
votion to  the  work.  He  who  reads  the  journal  of  Free- 
born Garrettson  in  the  earliest  ministry  of  Methodism 
in  this  country  well  knows  what  it  is  to  suffer  in  this 
calling.  Even  in  Maryland,  his  native  State,  he  was 
beaten  by  his  persecutors  and  left  unconscious  on  the 
road,  and  Mr.  Hartley  was  imprisoned. 

Who  can  read  without  tears  the  narrative  of  minis-  * 
ters  of  later  years  ?  In  the  biographical  sketches  edited 
by  Dr.  T.  O.  Summers  we  have  two,  written  by  Bishop 
H.  N.  McTyeire.  They  were  the  first  laborers  in 
Louisiana.  The  Bishop  says,  "Louisiana  has  been  the 
Macedonia  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church."  As 
an  example  of  suffering  he  quotes  from  Elisha  Bowman, 
the  pioneer,  January  29,  1806.  "  Every  day  that  I 
travel  I  have  to  swim  through  creeks  or  swamps,  and  I 
am  wet  from  my  head  to  my  feet,  and  some  days  from 
morning  till  night  I  am  dripping  with  water.  ...  I 
have  given  you  a  faint  idea  of  my  travels.  .  .  .  What  I 
have  suffered  in  body  and  mind  my  pen  is  not  able  to 
communicate  to  you  ;  but  this  I  can  say :  while  my  body 
is  wet  with  water  and  chilled  with  cold  my  soul  is 
filled  with  heavenly  fire.  .  .  .  And  while  these  periods 
drop  from  my  pen  my  soul  is  ready  to  leave  this 
earthly  house  and  fly  to  endless  rest."  What  but  con- 
sciousness of  his  call  held  this  man  in  such  a  work  ? 
He  was  a  writer  of  beauty,  tenderness,  and  force.  The 
next  case  is  that  of  Richard  Nolley,  of  whom  we  have 
a  sketch  also  in  Sprague's  Annals  of  the  Methodist 
Pulpit.  He  was  a  preacher  of  whom  the  late  Daniel 
De  Vinne,  of  the  New  York  East  Conference,  used  to 
make  devout  mention.  In  self-denial  and  in  holiness 
Mr.  Nolley  would  compare  with  Thomas  Walsh.  Of 


THE  LORD'S  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  317 


South-western  Louisiana  it  was  said  "the  gospel  plow- 
share never  struck  into  a  harder  soil,"  but  this  saint 
essayed  to  break  it.  Omitting  his  almost  unexampled 
difficulties,  shameful  persecution,  and  the  great  revivals 
that  marked  his  short  history,  we  view  him  in  his  clos- 
ing suffering  and  triumph.  He  had  finished  a  journey 
of  three  hundred  and  fifty  miles  through  the  wilderness, 
swimming  deep  creeks  and  lying  out  eleven  nights, 
and  had  reached  his  appointment.  He  passed  a  vil- 
I  lage  of  Indians,  and  in  attempting  to  cross  a  swift 
stream  he  and  his  horse  were  parted.  He  escaped 
drowning,  but,  chilled  and  exhausted,  the  cold  and 
darkness  every  moment  becoming  intenser,  he  sank 
down  and  seemed  conscious  of  his  approaching  end. 
On  Friday,  his  fast-clay,  amid  the  gloom  of  the  place 
and  period,  the  Bishop  says,  "  he  met  the  shining  ones." 
Thus  in  his  divine  vocation,  when  only  thirty-four  years 
of  age,  perished  one  of  the  best  men  out  of  heaven. 
"  His  knees  were  muddy,  and  the  prints  of  them  were  on 
the  ground,  showing  what  his  last  exercise  had  been. 
...  A  traveler  the  next  day  about  four  o'clock  found 
the  corpse  .  .  .  and  the  neighbors  bore  the  frozen  form 
to  the  house  where  it  was  supposed  he  aimed  to  go." 
Died  he  not  as  a  martyr  ?  Received  he  not  a  martyr's 
crown?  May  it  not  be  written  of  him  as  of  Saint  Paul, 
"In  perils  of  waters  ...  in  perils  in  the  wilderness 
...  in  weariness  and  painfulness,  in  watchings  often,  in 
hunger  and  thirst,  in  fastings  often,  in  cold  and  naked- 
ness^?" 

Such  cases  are  not  common,  but  they  show  us  the 
necessity — at  least  for  our  fathers  to  know  they  were 
moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost  to  take  upon  them  this  min- 
istry. How  much  was  comprehended  in  J.  P.  Durbin's 
case  has  never  had  a  full  record,  but  we  have  seen 
sufficient  to  justify  our  joy  that  he  was  conscious  that 


313 


JOHN  P.  DURBIK 


God  separated  him  to  this  work.  Few  preachers  of  the 
present  day  have  the  same  kind  of  trials  or  so  much  of 
such  difficulty.  But  we  shall  see  that  they  have  enough 
to  make  it  desirable  that  they  should  realize  how  im- 
perative is  their  duty. 

{b.)  He  has  the  depression  that  arises  from  felt  inade- 
quacy to  his  work.  An  apostle  exclaimed,  "  Who  is 
sufficient  for  these  things?"  Flushed  as  the  young 
preacher  sometimes  is  with  the  results  of  his  first 
efforts,  encouraged  as  he  has  been  by  the  kind  expres- 
sion of  devoted  friends,  there  are  few,  if  any,  who  do 
not  experience  a  mental  depression  that  their  failures 
to  meet  their  wishes  have  induced.  Criticisms  may  be 
heard,  sometimes  doubts  are  expressed  ;  his  painful 
want  of  knowledge,  his  need  of  more  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  his  exalted  ideal  of  a  sermon,  may  awaken 
strong  temptations  to  despair  in  the  prosecution  of  his 
work.  He  is  not  unwilling  to  deny  himself.  He 
shrinks  from  no  part  of  his  labor  because  of  its  difficul- 
ties, but  he  is  oppressed  with  the  thought  that  he  is 
unequal  to  the  place.  Nor  has  this  been  the  experience 
alone  of  those  not  educated  nor  distinguished  for  talent. 
Preachers  who  have  been  most  admired  have  had  this 
trial.  Robert  Hall  was  a  great  orator,  but  he  called 
together  his  vestry  to  resign  his  pastorate  because  of 
the  thought  of  his  inadequacy.  It  was  not  because 
Lawrence  Laurenson,  of  the  Philadelphia  Conference, 
was  not  one  of  the  most  eloquent  men  of  that  body 
that  he  rolled  on  the  floor  and  protested  that  he  could 
not  preach.  We  have  seen  what  were  the  reasonings 
of  J.  P.  Durbin  in  relation  to  his  first  efforts,  and  of 
the  kindness  that  he  thought  was  necessary  upon  the 
part  of  the  people  to  receive  and  treat  him  so  well. 

(c)  The  preacher  needs  the  consciousness  of  a  divine 
call  to  guard  him  against  discouragement. 


THE  LORD'S  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.         31 9 


According  to  the  Methodist  Discipline,  the  sole  busi- 
ness of  a  preacher  is  to  save  souls.  It  says,  "You  have 
nothing  to  do  but  save  souls."  For  this  he  studies, 
prays,  and  weeps  between  the  porch  and  the  altar,  but, 
like  the  disciples,  he  sometimes  says,  "we  have  toiled 
all  night  and  taken  nothing."  What,  then,  will  satisfy  ? 
Will  the  hospitalities  that  have  been  received,  the  cour- 
tesies extended,  the  commendation  bestowed,  the  friend- 
ships formed,  or  the  salary  promptly  and  liberally  paid  ? 
Will  the  largeness  of  the  congregation  or  the  intellect- 
ual make-up  of  the  assembly  ?  Will  these  satisfy 
him  ?  If  they  will  he  is  out  of  his  place  or  is  out  of 
the  right  state  of  mind  and  heart.  A  Methodist  preacher 
without  souls  is  like  a  glorified  saint  without  a  crown. 
What  is  our  hope,  our  joy,  our  crown  of  rejoicing  ?  Are 
not  even  ye,  in  the  presence  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  at 
his  coming  ? 

The  preacher  considers  the  import  and  difficulty  of 
his  work.  To  operate  upon  matter  is  one  thing,  to 
influence  mind  is  another.  To  span  the  East  River 
with  a  single  arch,  to  bridge  the  distance  and  to  open 
a  highway  of  travel  and  commerce  between  New  York 
and  Brooklyn,  is  a  work  that  intelligence,  energy,  time, 
and  necessary  means  could  accomplish.  By  civil  en- 
gineering, by  scientific  knowledge,  by  mechanical  skill, 
by  a  wise  calculation  of  the  forces  of  nature,  all  this 
has  been  done,  and  millions  in  a  single  year  chose 
this  as  a  highway  without  apprehension  of  harm.  To 
this  the  genius  of  a  Roebling  is  equal ;  but  who  shall 
close  up  the  moral  distance  between  an  offended  God 
and  an  unforgiven  sinner?  One  Mediator  bridged  the 
chasm  of  the  fall  by  the  cross  of  Calvary,  that  opens  a 
"  highway  and  the  redeemed  pass  over  it."  But  what 
unrepenting  soul  experiences  its  advantages  ?  Who 
shall  conquer  rebellion  ?    By  what  power  shall  we  make 


320 


JOHN  P.  BUR  BIN. 


the  alien  a  real  child  ?  To  move  the  mind  in  the  right 
direction,  when  taste,  and  habit,  and  a  depraved  heart 
are  behind  it,  is  such  labor  as  even  the  Holy  Ghost  does 
not  accomplish  without  the  sinner's  consent.  God  asks, 
"  How  shall  I  put  thee  among  the  children  ?  "  It  is  not 
in  man  to  do  it.  The  vastness  of  the  interest  at  stake, 
the  authority  on  which  the  minister  speaks,  the  ardor 
of  his  spirit,  the  earnestness  of  his  effort,  and  the  efficacy 
of  his  prayers,  together  with  the  force  of  his  arguments 
and  the  power  of  his  appeal,  will  not  secure  the  end.  A 
church  in  tears,  a  revival  in  progress,  and  angels  in 
waiting  to  carry  the  intelligence  of  a  sinner's  repenting 
are  not  enough  to  save  one  soul,  who  will  not  have 
this  man  to  reign  over  him.  This  almost  breaks  a 
preacher's  heart. 

He  may  feel  that  his  skirts  are  clear,  but  he  knows 
that  the  skirts  of  others  are  crimsoned  with  "blood- 
guiltiness."  How  felt  the  holy  Rutherford  when  he 
said,  "  My  witness  is  in  heaven  ;  your  heaven  would  be 
two  heavens  to  me  and  your  salvation  two  salvations?" 

Richard  Cecil  declares  a  country  minister  fighting  the 
devil  in  his  parish  has  a  higher  idea  than  Julius  Csesar 
or  Napoleon  ever  dreamed  of.  All  ministers  may  say, 
"  We  wrestle  not  against  flesh  and  blood,  but  against 
principalities,  against  powers,  against  spiritual  wicked- 
ness in  high  places." 

The  obstacles  that  are  sometimes  encountered  in  the 
state  of  the  Church  demand  the  guard  and  support  af- 
forded by  consciousness  of  a  call  to  the  place.  God 
says,  "  I  would  that  you  were  cold  or  hot."  Paul  de- 
clares it  is  good  to  be  zealously  affected  always  in  a 
good  thing. 

Zeal  for  God  in  the  Church  is  the  pastor's  hope,  want 
of  it  his  fear.  If  there  be  inertness,  it  matters  not  what 
else  there  is,  there  is  real  grief.    The  learning,  the 


THE  LORD'S  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY.  321 


wealth,  the  social  position,  the  numbers  may  all  be  read- 
ily and  gladly  acknowledged  ;  but  what  are  these  if 
conscience  is  obtuse  or  energy  sleeps;  if  they  know  not 
that  they  are  poor  and  miserable  and  blind  and  naked  ? 

Not  to  help  is  bad,  but  it  is  worse  to  hinder. 

In  the  Evangelical  Alliance  held  in  New  York,  in 
1873,  no  essay  moved  that  vast  assembly  like  the  one 
delivered  by  Dr.  T.  Christlieb,  professor  of  theology  and 
university  preacher  at  Bonn,  Prussia.  It  was  on 
"  Modern  Infidelity."  But  the  utterance  of  greatest 
power  was  to  the  effect  that  modern  infidels  do  not  read 
the  Scriptures.  They  study  the  Bible  in  those  who 
profess  to  follow  its  teaching".  If  they  are  not  right 
they  condemn  this  book.  Thus  religion  is  judged  not 
by  what  it  is,  but  by  what  our  example  makes  it.  If  they 
see  in  the  life  of  a  professor  even  apocryphal  conduct, 
the  charge  is  upon  religion — that  it  does  not  make  us 
just  and  good.  It  has  often  been  found  that  the  church 
that  is  not  a  hot-bed  for  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  is  one 
of  noxious  weeds,  and  that  roots  of  bitterness  springing 
up  trouble  it.  There  are  those  who  "  walk  disorderly 
and  will  not  be  reproved."  Thence  come  dissensions 
and  every  evil  work,  and  the  minister  is  compelled  to 
resort  to  the  discipline  of  the  Church.  Inaction  is  con- 
strued into  connivance  or  cowardice,  and  administration 
may  be  regarded  by  others  as  unnecessary  or  severe. 
Tins  is  the  most  painful,  and  sometimes  the  most  per- 
plexing duty  of  a  pastor,  and  he  may  ask,  "Did  my  call 
mean  this  ?"  "  Besides  those  things  that  are  without, 
that  which  cometh  upon  me  daily,  the  care  of  all  the 
churches.  Who  is  weak  and  I  am  not  weak?  Who  is 
offended  and  I  burn  not  ?  " 

Young  Durbin  knew  the  import  of  what  we  have  thus 
stated.  But  as  our  ministry  sometimes  involves  phys- 
ical sufferings,  and  even  death,  so  it  comprehends  such 
22 


322 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


trials  that  we  justly  deplore.  Who  would  not  shun 
such  a  fold  ? 

Financial  embarrassments  may  add  to  the  facts 
already  named.  When  one  gives  himself  to  the  itin- 
erancy his  first  care  is  to  make  full  proof  of  his  mirlis- 
try.  He  may  have  but  himself  to  support.  Whether 
his  salary  is  less  or  more  than  $50  a  year  is  a  minor  mat- 
ter. The  trade  of  young  Durbin  might  yield  more  in 
a  month  than  his  preaching  would  in  a  year.  But  what 
of  that  ?  He  lived  among  the  people  and  his  wants  were 
met.  Yet  the  man  who  has  a  family,  and  for  five  or  six 
years  receives  about  $100  a  year,  as  was  the  case  with 
one  clergyman,  is  in  a  different  case.  He  can  bear  pri- 
vations, but  his  wife  and  children  must  have  support. 
To  add  to  the  trial,  he  sees  men  in  business  rising  to 
wealth,  and  that  with  no  more  talents,  energy,  and  enter- 
prise than  are  demanded  of  a  preacher  in  order  to  success. 

He  sees,  moreover,  that  riches  gained  are  enabling 
men  in  secular  life  to  accomplish  for  the  Church  and  so- 
ciety what  the  minister  is  unable  to  do  —planting  mis- 
sions, establishing  Sunday-schools,  endowing  professor- 
ships, building  hospitals,  and  contributing  largely  to  the 
support  of  the  Church,  whereby  they  obtain  an  influ- 
ence to  which  the  minister  can  never  rise.  It  may  not 
astonish  us  that  he  is  tempted  to  think  he  would  be 
justified  in  departing  from  the  work* 

When  Sir  Matthew  Hale  meditated  the  ministry  and 
the  law,  and  thought  of  the  influence  that  he  might 
exert  in  adopting  the  legal  profession,  he  reasoned  thus: 
The  same  acts  that  the  love  of  God  prompts  in  an  ear- 
nest Christian  exert  more  power  when  coming  from  a 
layman  than  from  a  minister.  In  a  lawyer  it  would  be 
attributed  to  zeal  for  usefulness,  in  a  minister  it  would 
be  regarded  as  a  part  of  his  profession.  In  the  law  he 
certainly  made  himself  useful  as  a  Christian. 


THE  LORD'S  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 


323 


But  the  minister  ponders  his  call  and  what  it  involves. 
With  something  like  a  just  appreciation  of  his  case  he 
says  : 

"  I  am  a  1  shepherd  '  of  Christ's  sheep,  and  must  fold 
and  feed,  must  guide  and  guard  the  flock.  Shall  the 
sheep  perish  for  whom  Christ  died  ? 

"  I  am  a  4  steward,'  and  it  is  required  of  him  that  he 
be  found  faithful.    Shall  I  be  derelict  to  duty  ? 

"I  am  a  '  watchman.'  Will  I  see  the  sword  and  give 
no  alarm  ? 

"  I  am  an  *  ambassador.'  Shall  I  not  entreat  men  to 
be  reconciled  to  God  ? 

"  Shall  I  leave  my  post  ?  If  dignity  be  judged  by  the 
authority  that  confers  it — if  his  intelligence  and  skill  and 
loyalty  are  equal  to  his  charge — then  earth  and  heaven 
meet  in  the  ministrations  of  him  who  negotiates  between 
God  and  man." 

Who  shall  describe  his  responsibility  ?  The  shepherd 
must  go  into  the  wilderness  after  the  lost  sheep.  That 
is  what  Garrettson,  Bowman,  and  Nolley  were  doing. 

The  steward  must  give  to  every  one  his  portion  in 
due  season.  The  watchman  lifts  up  his  voice  like  a 
trumpet,  and  the  ambassador  in  Christ's  stead  asks,  im- 
plores, and  exhausts  his  resources  that  this  war  with 
God  may  come  to  an  immediate  end.  All  this  was 
recognized  by  John  P.  Durbin. 

Such  relationships  do  not  allow  these  spiritual  func- 
tions to  be  neglected.  In  the  life  of  Robert  S.  McAll, 
LL.D.,  we  have  an  illustration  of  the  liability  to  dis- 
couragement in  a  minister  of  pre  eminent  ability  and  of 
the  power  that  held  him  in  his  place.  He  was  called 
"  the  Cicero  of  Nonconformity  ; "  yet  he  declared  that 
such  was  his  sense  of  responsibility  that  nothing  could 
induce  him  to  continue  his  labors  but  the  most  absolute 
conviction  of  duty,  and  that  he  dared"  not  retire,  else 


3.24 


JOHN  P.  DUB  BIX 


he  should  have  done  so  long  since,  adding  emphatically 
these  words,  "  O,  sir,  frequently  have  I  come  home 
Sabbath  morning  when,  under  the  agonizing  feeling,  I 
have  thrown  myself  on  the  sola,  and  had  it  not  been  a 
sin  to  commit  suicide  I  should  have  done  it  rather  than 
preach  again  in  the  evening." 

This  language  is  too  strong;  but  it  came  from  one  of 
keen  sensibility,  who  allowed  the  tempter  too  much 
power  ;  but  it  gives  those  who  do  not  know  it  some 
view  of  the  mental  sufferings  of  which  a  faithful  min- 
ister may  be  the  subject. 

Such  are  some  of  the  trials  that  ministers  meet,  and 
that  make  a  clear  sense  of  duty  an  imperative  demand. 
When  a  weak  mortal  feels  the  confluence  of  so  many 
streams,  and  some  of  them  of  such  volume — when  such 
bitter  waters  rise  and  rage  around  him,  could  it  be  ex- 
pected that  he  will  stand  firm  if  he  has  nothing  behind 
him  but  his  own  tastes,  a  college  education,  a  theological 
training,  or  his  past  preparations  of  whatever  sort — 
nothing  but  those  things  that  are  from  the  human  to 
keep  him  firm  ?  If  there  was  ever  a  tinge  of  romance  in 
the  life  it  is  gone.  If  there  was  ever  experiment,  it  is 
over.  If  it  was  to  reach  a  certain  reputation,  that  mat- 
ter is  settled  with  joy  or  grief.  But  there  is  some- 
thing higher.  He  pauses,  he  prays,  he  weeps.  His 
mind  reverts  to  his  mental  processes  and  his  moral  con- 
clusions. He  thinks  of  the  books  he  read  to  help  his 
thoughts  of  duty.  He  remembers  that  then,  if  ever,  his 
devotion  to  God  was  pure  ;  then,  if  ever,  his  eye  was 
single ;  then,  if  ever,  he  had  God's  work  at  heart,  and 
he  asks  with  an  agonized  mind,  "  Shall  such  a  man  as  I 
flee?  Shall  a  standard-bearer  faint  ?  Is  the  necessity 
absolute?  Then  only  may  I  feel  my  call  for  this  work 
at  this  time  is  out."  He  sees  his  way  is  not  fully  shut 
up.    Xow  he  would  retire  but  for  the  conscious  call. 


THE  LORD'S  CALL  TO  THE  MINISTRY. 


325 


With  one  who  once  was  an  evangelical  power  in  this 
land,  he  says,  "  Die  on  the  field  of  battle." 

Before  once  fleeing,  welcome  a  thousand  deaths.  We 
honor  the  soldier  whom  danger  makes  more  brave.  We 
laud  the  physician  whom  pestilence  does  not  drive 
from  duty  ;  but  worldly  ambition  may  prompt  the  one, 
while  lucrative  practice  may  influence  the  other.  But 
God's  minister  looks  at  his  commission,  and  says  it  is 
from  a  higher  power,  is  for  a  nobler  end,  and  is  gov- 
erned by  celestial  motives.  What  if  the  depressed 
Elijah  was  under  the  juniper-tree — what  if  Jeremiah 
said.  "  I  will  not  speak  any  more  in  his  name."  I  live 
under  the  dispensation  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  mine 
may  be  the  tongue  of  fire.  "  He  that  walketh  in  the 
midst  of  the  seven  golden  candlesticks  holds  the  seven 
stars  in  his  right  hand." 

Of  the  trials  of  Dr.  Durbin  in  the  ministry  we  may 
not  adequately  speak.  He  was  not  accustomed  to  re- 
count or  to  dwell  upon  them.  He  saw  the  end  rather 
than  the  difficulties  in  his  way.  Time  and  trial  were 
less  than  duty  and  destiny.  But  we  have  seen  his  as- 
pirations and  the  obstacles  in  his  path.  We  have  seen 
him  with  a  salary  that  it  shames  our  present  Methodism 
to  remember.  We  have  seen  him  with  loss  of  voice  at 
the  end  of  his  first  six  months,  a  fact  well  calculated  to 
crush  hope  and  extinguish  every  fire  of  sanctified  am- 
bition. We  heard  him  tell  of  painful  failure  in  preach- 
ing the  word,  but  he  had  heard  God.  He  had  heard 
the  Church.  He  had  not  gone  without  being  sent. 
He  knew  the  exercises  of  his  own  mind,  and  the  ex- 
periences of  his  heart,  and  he  could  calmly  say,  "  Xone 
of  these  things  move  me."  And  his  life  was  made 
grand.  What  like  such  consciousness  of  a  call  makes  a 
man  courageous  and  eloquent  as  a  preacher  of  the  word. 


S2tf 


JOHN  P.  BUR  BIN. 


CHAPTER  XX. 
Eloquence  a  Worthy  Study. 

ELOQUENCE  is  a  reality.  Nothing  more  certainly 
affects  individuals  or  masses  of  men.  In  war  and 
in  peace  it  makes  appeals  that  compel  response,  and  if 
it  is  truthfully  said  "  the  pen  is  mightier  than  the 
sword,"  he  who  knows  the  full  power  of  speech  will 
confess  the  tongue  is  mightier  than  the  pen.  The 
fathers  of  the  Revolution  did  well  to  consider  the  state- 
ments and  the  arguments  of  Jefferson's  pen  ;  but  what 
roused  the  colonies  like  the  utterances  of  Adams,  of 
Otis,  and  of  Patrick  Henry  ? 

In  classic  Greece  and  ancient  Rome  eloquence  was  the 
highest  study  for  power  and  fame.  It  was  a  remark  of 
Henry  Clay  that  "there  is  no  power  like  the  power  of 
oratory.  Caesar  conquered  men  by  exciting  their 
fears ;  Cicero  by  captivating  their  affections  and  sway- 
ing their  passions.  The  influence  of  the  one  perished 
with  its  author,  while  that  of  the  other  continues  to  this 
*  day."  It  is  said,  "  Julius  Caesar  was  subdued  by  the  elo- 
quence of  Cicero,  and  absolved  the  criminal  whom  he 
had  determined  to  punish." 

But  this  very  power  has  been  made  an  argument 
against  the  cultivation  of  eloquence.  It  has  been  said, 
"it  may  influence  the  simple,  but  not  the  wise."  There 
may  be  those  who  can  make  the  worse  appear  the 
better  reason.  But  eloquence  is  not  sophistry.  Elo- 
quence has  been  pronounced  a  "virtue."  This,  like  any 
other  power,  may  be  used  for  good  or  evil.    The  sun 


ELOQUENCE  A  WORTHY  STUDY. 


32  7 


that  warms  the  soil  for  the  seed  may  burn  up  vegeta- 
tion and  cause  famine.  And  the  rains  of  heaven  that 
the  farmer  asks  may  flood  his  fields.  The  very  strength 
that  God  gave  to  Samson  made  him  the  sport  of  fools 
that  u  make  a  mock  at  sin." 

We  are  even  cautioned  against  "  receiving  the  grace 
of  God  in  vain."  There  is  no  faculty  with  which  we 
are  endowed,  and  there  is  no  acquisition  in  learning 
that  we  can  make,  that  may  not  be  turned  to  ill  account. 
As  really  from  the  printing  press  that  gives  us  Bibles 
at  so  cheap  a  rate  comes  polluting  literature  at  prices 
that  any  may  pay.  Men  do  not  refuse  money  because 
there  are  misers;  and  even  Christians  labor  for  its  pos- 
session, though  "  the  love  of  money  is  the  root  of  all  evil." 

But  what  is  there  in  the  eloquence  of  speech  to  jus- 
tify opposition  to  its  cultivation  ?  It  is  the  clothing  of 
our  thoughts  in  such  language  and  expressing  them  in 
such  manner  as  are  adapted  to  produce  conviction  and 
persuasion.  It  is  the  art  of  speaking  to  effect  our  pur- 
pose. Quintilian  says,  "It  is  in  the  heart,  in  the  genius, 
and  in  the  thoughts,  that  eloquence  properly  consists," 
and  surely  a  wise  man  will  not  refuse  these.  It  will 
hardly  be  assumed  that  Benjamin  Franklin  was  a  weak 
man,  or  that  David  Hume  or  Lord  Chesterfield  were  to 
be  pronounced  simple  as  to  their  judgments  of  the 
works  of  men.  Yet  the  eloquence  of  Whitefield  made 
Franklin,  despite  his  former  purpose,  empty  his  purse 
for  a  collection,  and  caused  Chesterfield  to  say  he  would 
go  twenty  miles  to  hear  him  and  captivated  Hume. 

Emerson  says :  "  The  orator  is  he  whom  every  man 
is  seeking  when  he  goes  into  court,  into  conventions, 
into  any  popular  assembly.  His  speech  is  the  electricity 
of  action."  Hervey  declares,  "  When  Seeker  preaches 
or  when  Murray  pleads,  the  church  is  crowded  and  the 
bar  is  thronged." 


328 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


Eloquence  is  oratory  in  its  highest  perfection.  M  It 
is  successful,  triumphant  oratory."  It  impresses  others 
as  the  speaker  is  impressed.  It  is  touching  a  chord  in 
another's  heart  responsive  to  his  own.  It  may  be  elo- 
quence of  thought,  and  strike  like  a  missile.  It  may  be 
eloquence  of  language  that  goes  through  men  like  a 
sword.  It  may  be  eloquence  of  passion  that  wraps  us 
like  a  flame.  It  may  be  found  in  massing  the  weight- 
iest truths  and  in  projecting  them  with  greatest  force. 
It  is  intensity  intensified.  It  seeks  no  pomp  of 
diction,  assumes  no  airs  of  importance.  The  orator 
is  not  to  be  gazed  at  or  admired,  but  to  be  felt. 
Ostentation  is  fatal  to  its  purpose,  and  seeming  design 
is  certain  defeat.  But  eloquence  respects  taste, 
conciliates  prejudice,  and  studies  the  avenues  to  the 
heart.  It  accepts  and  appropriates  any  means  of  moral 
power.  By  a  happy  phrase,  by  an  intonation  of  the 
voice,  by  a  glance  of  the  eye,  by  an  undesigned  gest- 
ure, it  will  achieve  results  to  which  it  might  have  been 
deemed  utterly  inadequate.  The  stage  is  for  acting : 
the  pulpit  is  for  divine  sincerity.  It  is  for  showing 
the  truth  of  God.  Real  eloquence  seems  so  natural 
and  easy  that  many  are  ready  to  say,  "Why  can't  I 
do  that?"  It  is  not  merely  what  many  call  elocution. 
That  may  mean  good  voice,  fine  articulation,  graceful 
attitudes  and  gestures,  and  pleasant  accent.  There 
may  be  nothing  to  offend  and  yet  be  no  better  approach 
to  real  eloquence  than  a  statue  is  to  a  man.  It  is  cold 
marble  in  the  one  ;  it  is  animated  flesh  and  flowing 
blood  in  the  other.  It  is  as  much  eloquence  as  Adam 
was  man  before  God  breathed  into  him  the  breath  of 
life,  and  he  became  a  living  soul. 

The  elements  of  eloquence  inhere  in  every  man's 
nature,  and  there  is  no  one  who  is  not  at  some  time 
eloquent.    Let  but  the  subject  be  presented  and  the 


ELOQUENCE  A  WORTHY  STUDY.  329 


appeal  made  that  wake  the  soul,  and  in  his  way  the 
slave  may  be  as  eloquent  as  the  senator.  The  eloquence 
may  not  be  in  a  stream,  but  it  is  in  a,  jet.  It  is  stronger 
or  weaker,  longer  or  shorter,  as  facts  influence.  Elo- 
quence is  popular  as  moving  the  rude  as  well  as  re- 
fined. As  the  susceptibilities  of  eloquence  are  in  all, 
the  response  to  eloquence  is  from  all. 

But  there  is  difference  both  in  the  kind  and  degree. 
All  eloquence  moves,  but  not  to  the  same  degree  or  in 
the  same  manner.  Orators  made  after  one  model  are 
artificial  and  powerless.  To  be  eloquent  one  must  be 
himself.  David  would  not  have  been  a  greater  failure 
as  an  adversary  in  the  armor  of  Saul  than  he  would 
have  been  as  speaker  in  the  style  of  Jonathan.  Imita- 
tion in  an  orator  is  apt  to  be  detected  even  by  those 
who  never  heard  the  original.  For  popular  or  power- 
ful effect  no  one  is  required  to  conform  to  any  pattern. 
Bascom,  Summerfield,  and  Durbin  were  all  eloquent. 
All  had  admirers,  and  enough  of  them  for  fame.  A 
distinctive  impression  was  produced  by  each.  Tastes 
in  hearers,  as  really  as  talent  in  speakers,  differ. 

How  far  eloquence  may  be  cultivated,  and  ivhether  it 
will  compensate  the  efforts  for  its  attainment,  are  ques- 
tions that  should  command  the  devoutest  thought  of 
him  who  would  neglect  nothing  that  adds  to  usefulness. 

It  may  be  cultivated  :  That  some  have  a  genius  for 
eloquence  that  others  do  not  possess  admits  of  no  ques- 
tioning. That  all  who  have  the  genius  do  not  reach 
equal  excellence  is  alike  certain ;  but  such  facts  do  not 
justify  discouragement.  One  person  has  an  aptitude 
and  fondness  for  languages,  another  for  mathematics, 
another  for  metaphysics  ;  some  for  poetry  and  others 
for  general  literature. 

Are  men  endowed  for  positions?  Are  specialists 
thus  directed  ?  Minds,  like  bodies,  differ  in  complexion; 


330 


JOHX  t.  LtURBIS. 


yet  vitality  is  more  than  color.  But  as  the  place  of 
our  birth,  notwithstanding  love  of  locality  that  it  in- 
duces, does  not  forbid  emigration  if  found  to  our  ad- 
vantage, so  our  tastes  should  not  prevent  the  exercise 
of  our  talents  in  the  direction  where  they  can  accom- 
plish most.  As  like  genius  does  not  always  reach  equal 
eminence,  so  like  effort  may  not  invariably  reap  the 
same  fruit.  One  may  do  with  difficulty  what  another 
does  with  ease.  But  ease  and  difficulty  are  not  the 
question  to  govern  one  intent  on  a  worthy  object. 
Genius  is  not  to  be  disparaged,  but  industry  must  not 
be  ignored.  In  some  things  the  impulse  of  genius  will 
do  what  hard  study  will  not  effect.  But  he  who  con- 
ceives of  genius  as  that  which  makes  men  wise  without 
study,  or  illustrious  without  effort,  conceives  of  some- 
thing that  no  sensible  man  should  covet. 

Dr.  Johnson  says,  "Men  have  sometimes  appeared  of 
such  transcendent  abilities  that  their  slightest  and 
most  cursory  performance  excel  all  that  labor  and 
study  can  enable  meaner  intellects  to  compose,  as 
there  are  regions  of  which  the  spontaneous  products 
cannot  be  equaled  in  other  soils  by  care  and  culture. 
Hut  it  is  not  less  dangerous  for  any  man  to  place  him- 
self m  this  rank,  and  fancy  that  he  is  born  to  be  illus- 
trious without  labor,  than  to  omit  the  cares  of  hus- 
bandry and  expect  from  the  ground  the  blossoms  of 
Arabia."  Because  Providence  gave  the  church  such 
young  preachers  as  Spencer  and  Summerfield  is  no 
reason  for  youthful  presumption.  Genius  does  much, 
but  let  no  one  presume. 

The  counterpart  of  Napoleon's  genius  for  war  may 
not  appear  in  a  century.  We  may  in  vain  read  all 
history  to  find  another  Julius  Caesar,  and  many  years 
may  elapse  before  our  "  military  academy  "  will  give 
us  another  Grant.     But  this  is  no  proof  that  "the 


ELOQUENCE  A  WORTHY  STUDY. 


331 


sword  has  become  a  plowshare,  or  that  the  spear  has 
been  converted  into  a  pruning-hook."  Nor  would  it 
be  deemed  wise  for  our  nation  to  close  West  Point, 
or  for  our  young  men  to  decline  to  study  the  science 
and  art  of  war.  Ages  have  passed  without  producing 
another  Demosthenes  or  Cicero.  Yet  England  boasts 
her  Sheridan,  her  Canning,  and  her  Fox  ;  and  America 
points  to  her  mighty  orators  in  Patrick  Henry,  Fisher 
Ames,  and  Henry  Clay.  And  the  names  of  Gladstone 
and  Webster  will  live  in  history  for  their  eloquence  as 
well  as  for  their  wisdom. 

Another  John  P.  Durbin  may  be  sought  for  in  vain 
among  the  pulpit  orators  of  the  land  ;  but  the  influence 
of  his  example  survives  him,  and  the  lessons  and  labors 
of  his  life  will  go  on  blessing  the  world.  Other  men 
have  learned  eloquence  from  his  utterances,  and  some 
of  his  characteristics  have  been  and  may  yet  be  repro- 
duced in  those  who  heard  his  discourse  or  study  his  life. 
We  wisely  aim  at  what  we  may  not  fully  reach.  The 
effort  is  both  a  discipline  and  an  advantage.  We  are 
endowed  for  labor,  and  the  minister  may  not  only  cher- 
ish a  sanctified  ambition,  but  indulge  an  animating 
hope. 

When  Rubenstein  heard  a  distinguished  preacher  say, 
"A  man  must  not  be  expected  to  do  better  than  he  can," 
he  declared  he  did  not  like  the  sermon,  because,  said  the 
great  pianist,  "  It  is  false ;  for  men  must  do  the  impos- 
sible. I  tell  my  pupils  if  they  do  not  try  to  compose  bet- 
ter than  Beethoven  they  must  never  come  to  my  tuition." 
The  Greek  adage  is,  "  The  gods  sell  every  thing  to  labor." 
Eloquent  speaking  maybe  assumed  to  be  largely  the  re- 
sult of  study  and  practice.  Much  that  is  almost  forgotten 
may  have  been  learned  in  childhood  at  school  when  the 
mind  and  the  organs  of  speech  might  readily  receive 
some  of  the  best  aids  to  the  end  meditated.  "In  former 


332 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


ages  the  opinion  was  held  that  the  talent  for  eloquence 
was  pre-eminently  one  of  discipline,  and  it  is  one  of  the 
maxims  that  has  descended  to  the  present  time  that 
"men  must  be  born  to  poetry,  but  bred  to  eloquence;" 
that  the  "bard  is  always  a  child  of  nature  and  the  ora- 
tor always  the  issue  of  instruction. "  (John  Q.  Adams's 
Lectures  on  Rhetoric  and  Oratory,  vol.  i,  25.) 

Temperament,  sympathy,  grace  of  person,  compass 
and  sweetness  of  voice,  together  with  readiness  of  utter- 
ance, make  their  contribution  to  the  speaker.  But  which 
of  these  may  not  be  improved  by  use  or  impaired  by 
disuse  ?  By  reading,  by  conversation,  by  study  of  models, 
one  may  imbibe  the  spirit  and  find  the  secret  that  we 
seek.  Eloquence  spurns  idleness  and  disowns  the  self-, 
sufficient.  If  to  be  public  speakers  men  study  grammar, 
rhetoric,  and  logic,  why  not  eloquence  in  its  best  mani- 
festations ?  One  may  have  grammar,  rhetoric,  and  logic ; 
yet  lack  of  ability  to  speak  mnkes  all  unavailing.  If  to 
be  a  scholar,  to  acquire  useful  arts,  we  pursue  study,  and 
adopt  the  best  means  to  fit  ourselves  for  positions  of 
responsibility  and  honor,  surely  it  is  not  unworthy  our 
best  effort  to  prepare  for  the  calling  of  a  minister  of 
Christ.  Galen  says,  "An  unskillful  sculptor  spoils  only 
a  block  of  marble,  but  an  unskillful  physician  spoils  a 
man."  But  a  more  painful  thought  is,  the  unskillful 
minister  may  at  least  fail  to  save  a  soul  from  death. 

Men  not  influenced  by  the  high  motives  of  the  Chris- 
tian have  deemed  no  cost  too  great  if  they  might  ac- 
quire eloquence.  We  are  familiar  with  the  narrative  of 
Demosthenes — the  impediment  in  his  speech  and  awk- 
wardness of  gesture ;  that  to  overcome  his  faults,  under 
the  shame  of  his  defeats  he  sought  seclusion  for  careful 
study  ;  then  harangued  the  ocean  that  he  might  be  supe- 
rior to  the  tumult  of  a  great  assembly,  and  put  pebbles 
in  his  mouth,  that  if  with  them  he  could  manage  to 


ELOQUENCE  A  WORTHY  STUDY. 


333 


speak  he  might  find  ease  in  their  absence ;  and  to  correct 
the  shrug  of  the  shoulder  placed  a  sword  to  pierce  him. 
His  reward  was  greater  than  his  expenditure  of  time 
and  effort. 

Cicero  failed  in  the  beginning  "through  weakness 
of  lungs  and  excessive  vehemence  of  manner,  which 
wearied  his  hearers  and  defeated  his  purpose."  Study 
conquered,  but  it  was  not  till  he  had  traveled  in  various 
lands,  secured  the  aid  of  instructors  and  critics,  that  he 
reached  his  mark.  He  passed  no  day  without  exercise 
in  his  art.    The  end  justified  all  the  means  employed. 

When  Fox  first  rose  in  the  House  of  Commons  he 
blundered,  stammered,  and  at  last  "sat  down  in  discom- 
fiture." But  success  followed  failure,  and  diligence  raised 
him  to  the  first  place  of  an  English  orator.  When 
Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan  began  his  course  as  a  speaker 
his  painful  failures  induced  a  friend  to  say,  "Speaking 
is  not  your  calling."  With  an  emphasis  of  more  vigor 
than  refinement  he  exclaimed,  "  It  is  in  me,  and  I  will 
bring  it  out."  In  that  reply  we  have  the  elements  of  a 
mighty  orator.  There  was  intensity,  determination,  and 
consciousness  of  his  own  capability,  and  all  his  labor 
was  in  faith.  It  has  been  stated  on  good  authority  that 
Patrick  Henry  owed  more  to  the  study  of  the  art  of 
eloquence  than  many  have  supposed.  In  early  life  he 
had  one  habit  besides  that  of  indolence;  it  was  that  of 
watching  the  working  of  the  passions  and  of  detecting 
the  motives  of  human  conduct.  For  these  purposes  he 
drew  around  him  groups  of  companions  and  engaged 
them  in  conversation  on  excellent  subjects. 

If  there  be  enough  in  eloquence  to  justify  such  efforts 
and  reward  such  toil  in  men  of  the  world  is  there  any 
labor  too  great  for  him  whose  highest  ambition  is  to 
reach  the  minds  and  hearts  of  men  to  save  them  from 
"going  down  to  the  pit?"    Can  the  minister  of  the 


334  JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 

Son  of  God  allow  men  of  any  calling  to  do  more  for 
their  purpose  than  he  will  do  to  accomplish  the  end  of 
his  mission?  What  are  crowns  on  earth,  though  studded 
with  diamonds,  compared  with  the  honor  of  him  that  is 
faithful  to  his  divine  vocation,  when  every  soul  that 
he  saves  by  his  speech  shall  be  "a  star"  to  shine  in  the 
crown  of  his  rejoicing  forever  and  forever?  Eloquence 
is  eloquence  whether  at  the  bar,  in  the  senate,  or  the 
pulpit.  If  in  eloquence  there  is  enough  to  inspire  an 
army  when  on  the  fiery  edge  of  battle;  enough  to  rouse 
the  patriot's  soul  when  death  looks  him  in  the  face; 
enough  to  kindle  the  fire  that  no  waters  of  adversity 
can  quench;  enough  to  make  the  men  who  heard  De- 
mosthenes say,  "  Let  us  march  against  Philip  ;  "  if  there 
is  enough  to  cause  Burke  to  say  of  the  speech  of  Sheridan, 
"  Such  a  display  of  powers  is  unparalleled  in  the  annals 
of  oratory — such  a  display  that  reflects  the  highest 
honor  upon  himself,  luster  upon  letters,  renown  upon  the 
patriot  and  glory  upon  the  country" — then  surely  there 
is  enough  in  eloquence  to  make  the  minister  do  what  he 
can  to  command  it. 

What  like  the  eloquence  of  reason,  of  conscience — and 
that  the  Spirit  gives — makes  men  feel  their  obligation  to 
rise  superior  to  all  the  enemies  in  their  path  ?  At  such 
time  it  is  not  so  much  a  question  as  to  what  a  man 
knows  as  a  student  as  what  he  feels  and  expresses  as  the 
mouth-piece  for  God.  With  half  the  human  knowledge 
of  another  he  exerts  double  his  power  and  secures  ten- 
fold the  benefit.  He  carries  his  cause  because  he  is  in 
it  and  makes  others  feel  it  is  in  them.  Who,  then,  shall 
ask,  Is  there  enough  in  eloquence  to  justify  a  minister 
in  using  the  means  for  its  attainment?  Are  not  the 
means  of  acquiring  eloquence  as  really  at  his  command 
as  of  any  other  person  ?  Are  his  faculties  and  suscep- 
tibilities inferior?    Will  it  cost  him  any  more  than  it 


ELOQUENCE  A  WORTHY  STUDY. 


335 


does  others  of  like  condition  but  with  dissimilar  sphere ; 
or  can  any  motives  be  more  powerful  to  impel  than 
those  that  influence  one  of  his  vocation?  Is  there  not 
as  mucli  in  his  calling  to  demand  and  reveal  the  highest 
style  of  oratory  ?  Has  he  not  greater  aids  to  his  pur- 
suit of  this  power  in  the  fact  of  God's  presence  and  in- 
fluence? If  he  hear  God  saying,  "Go,  stand  in  the 
temple  and  speak  all  the  words  of  this  life,"  is  he  not 
then  under  obligation  to  employ  every  auxiliary  nnd 
improve  every  opportunity  to  his  usefulness  ?  In  the 
imposed  duty  to  speak  there  is  the  implied  obligation 
to  speak  the  best  he  can.  But  who  has  not  marked  the 
disparity  between  able  men  in  relation  to  eloquence? 
What  makes  the  difference  in  many  cases  between  two 
ministers  as  to  their  fields  of  labor  and  their  opportuni- 
ties of  success?  At  this  day  what  numbers  of  excellent 
preachers  are  scattered  through  the  country  with  few 
to  hear  them  and  little  to  encourage  labor  !  At  college 
and  in  the  theological  seminary,  or  in  the  places  of 
their  preparation,  they  were  the  equals  of  and  even  su- 
perior to  those  who  now  fill  positions  that  afford  them 
every  encouragement  in  the  work.  What  is  the  differ- 
ence between  these  men  ?  Piety?  No!  Learning?  No! 
Unfitness  by  training  for  the  best  society?  No  !  It  is 
solely  as  to  the  "  art  of  speaking."  In  this  the  differ- 
ence is  sometimes  slight,  but  it  is  real,  which,  added  to 
some  other  minor  matter,  gives  the  disparity.  In  other 
instances  the  contrast  between  preachers  is  very  broad. 
This  calls  for  the  greater  effort.  We  have  seen  a 
theological  student,  about  to  graduate  from  one  of  the 
noblest  institutions  of  the  land,  after  all  the  advantages 
of  a  college  course  attempting  to  deliver  a  sermon  from 
manuscript  in  a  way  that  no  congregation  would  endure. 
We  have  listened  to  another,  from  one  of  the  first  schools 
of  theology,  standing  with  his  manuscript  before  a  large 


336 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


audience  with  no  more  apparent  knowledge  of  what  was 
written  than  if  another  had  just  sent  it  to  him  and  he 
was  trying  for  the  first  time  to  make  out  the  subject, 
yet  in  a  manner  so  irreverent  as  to  excite  the  derision 
rather  than  the  pity  of  the  people.  Any  one  of  taste  for 
divine  things  would  infinitely  prefer  the  rustic  from  the 
plow,  without  knowledge  of  a  rule  in  grammar,  provided 
his  heart  glowed  and  he  "  just  spoke  right  on."  Ralph 
AValdo  Emerson  relates  that  the  Persian  poet  Saadi 
heard  a  person  with  a  disagreeable  voice  reading  the 
Koran  aloud,  when  a  holy  man  passing  by. asked  what 
was  his  monthly  stipend.  He  answered,  "Nothing  at 
all."  "  But  why  do  you  take  so  much  trouble?"  He 
replied,  "I  read  for  the  sake  of  God."  The  other  re- 
joined. "For  God's  sake,  do  not  read;  for  if  you  read 
the  Koran  in  this  manner  you  will  destroy  the  splendor 
of  Islamism." 

If  any  have  need  of  an  audience  for  the  work  and  for 
a  worthy  end  it  is  he  wTho  speaks  for  Go'd.  Martin 
Lnther,  in  naming  the  qualifications  for  the  preacher  for 
the  word,  says,  "  He  should  be  eloquent."  It  is  recorded 
of  Chrysostom,  "the  golden-mouthed,"  "that  he  studied 
the  Greek  orators."  It  is  stated  that  George  Whitefield 
took  lessons  of  Garrick.  It  is  certain  that  John  Wesley 
advised  "all  who  could  to  study  the  art  of  speaking." 
He  names  particular  "  faults  and  vices  "  to  be  corrected, 
and  impresses  rules  that  secure  ease  and  efficiency  in 
public  address.  To  remedy  bad  gesture  he  suggests 
even  a  "  large  looking-glass,"  that  there  may  be  seen 
reflected  in  a  mirror  what  the  people  see  in  our  action 
before  them.  He  gives  Demosthenes  as  an  example  of 
benefit  by  such  means.  He  says,  "There  is  but  one  way 
better  than  this,  which  is  to  have  some  excellent  pattern 
as  often  as  may  be  before  your  eyes." 

The  Methodist  Discipline,  in  receiving  preachers  for 


ELOQUENCE  A  WORTHY  STUDY. 


337 


the  itinerancy,  asks,  "  Do  tliey  speak  justly,  readily, 
clearly  ?  "  Here  is  the  foundation  for  eloquence,  and  no 
Church  has  a  broader,  firmer,  better  one. 

Longinus  says,  "  The  works  of  the  great  masters  are 
like  so  many  sacred  sources,  where  the  most  frigid  kin- 
dle and  take  fire."  It  is  said  that  Rubens  loved  to  have 
some  one  read  to  him  while  he  delineated  his  pictures, 
asserting  that  the  finest  imagination  needed  warming. 
No  one  who  seeks  eloquence  has  greater  helps  to  its  at- 
tainment than  the  gospel  minister. 

The  Father  of  languages  has  inspired  one  Book  that 
is  a  study  and  Authority  and  an  inspiration  to  the 
preacher.  Its  themes  are  diverse  and  its  reasonings 
conclusive.  Its  light  is  so  perfect  and  pervading  that 
all  may  walk  in  its  brightness.  For  mental  elevation, 
for  verbal  grandeur,  for  exalted  spirit,  for  the  material 
and  examples  of  eloquence,  the  Bible  has  no  equal. 
The  greatest  statesmen,  the  sublimest  orators,  as  well 
as  the  most  illustrious  ministers  of  Christ,  have  sought 
its  aid  and  showed  its  impress.  What  book  like  the 
Bible  quickens  thought,  broadens  intellect,  incites  and 
increases  mental  penetration  ?  In  its  study  we  rise  to 
the  vastness  of  eternal  verities. 

"I  have  often  observed,"  says  Addison,  "that  when- 
ever the  Roman  orator,  in  his  philosophical  discourses, 
is  led  by  his  argument  to  the  mention  of  immortality, 
he  seems  like  one  awakened  out  of  sleep;  roused  and 
alarmed  at  the  dignity  of  the  subject  he  stretches  his 
imagination  to  conceive  something  uncommon,  and 
with  the  greatness  of  his  thoughts  casts,  as  it  were,  a 
glory  round  the  sentence.  Uncertain  and  unsettled  as 
he  was,  he  seems  fired  with  the  contemplation  of  it." 

What  God  thinks  of  the  power  of  language  and  of 
speech  may  be  judged  by  the  facts  that  he  has  fur- 
nished. The  eloquence  of  Scripture  speaks  for  itself ; 
23 


338 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


and  when  the  lawgiver  of  Israel  thought  his  lack  of 
ability  to  speak  would  be  a  hinderance  to  his  worklhe 
Almighty  gave  him  Aaron,  saying,  "I  know  him,  that 
he  can  speak  well. ' 

But  did  not  St.  Paul  say  he  "  came  not  with  excel- 
lency of  speech,"  and  that  he  "determined  not  to  know- 
any  thing  among  them  but  Jesus  Christ,  and  him  cru- 
cified?" Yes,  he  said  this.  What  did  he  mean? 
That  he  ignored  rhetoric  ?  That  there  was  no  passion 
in  his  utterance  ?  That  he  did  not  try  to  persuade 
men  ?  Study  his  life,  analyze  his  speeches,  and  tell 
why  Felix  trembled  and  Agrippa  was  almost  persuaded 
to  be  a  Christian,  and  how  it  came  to  pass  that  he  made 
such  an  impression  in  Athens. 

St.  Paul  speaks  of  himself  as  less  than  the  least  of 
all  saints.  Was  he?  lie  spoke  as  it  seemed  to  him 
rather  than  as  it  was.  Why  did  the  people  of  Lystra 
do  him  such  honor  ?  Longinus,  in  his  work  on  the  sub- 
lime as  it  comes  to  03,  in  giving  the  list  of  great  orators, 
adds,  "  And  Saul  of  Tarsus,  the  chief  supporter  of  an 
opinion  not  yet  established." 

It  is  justly  asked,  Where  is  there  a  writer  that  can 
vie  with  St.  Paul  in  sublime  and  pathetic  eloquence? 
Demosthenes  could  rouse  up  the  Athenians  against 
Philip,  and  Cicero  strike  shame  and  confusion  into  the 
heart  of  Anthony  or  Catiline.  And  did  not  the  elo- 
quence of  St.  Paul,  though  he  was  bound  in  degrading 
fetters,  produce  equal  effects? 

But  Peter  wTas  the  preacher  of  Pentecost.  He  say*, 
"  Ye  men  of  Israel,  hear  the  words  of  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth, a  man  approved  of  God  among  you  by  miracles 
and  wonders  and  signs,  which  God  did  by  him  in  the 
midst  of  you,  as  ye  yourselves  also  know :  him,  being 
delivered  by  the  determinate  counsel  and  foreknowledge 
of  God,  ye  have  taken,  and  by  wicked  hands  have 


ELOQUENCE  A  WORTHY  STUDY. 


339 


crucified  and  slain."  His  words  cut  like  cimeters;  his 
sentences  were  like  battering-rams.  The  people  were 
pricked  in  their  hearts,  and  said,  "What  shall  we  do?" 
Was  it  the  Holy  Ghost  that  made  Peter  so  eloquent  ? 
Then  that  is  a  high  commendation  of  eloquence.  Judg- 
ing from  the  narration,  did  his  speech  have  any  power 
with  men  in  producing  great  results?  Then  eloquence 
is  to  be  desired  for  such  good.  Who  shall  tell  the 
power  that  Apollos  exerted  when  he  "  mightily  con- 
vinced the  Jews?  "  But  we  come  to  a  higher  source — 
to  Christ  himself. 

As  if  to  give  dignity  and  weight  to  the  ministry, 
"Jesus  began  to  preach,"  and  the  officers  said,  "Never 
man  spake  like  this  man."  The  troths  that  he  pre- 
sented were  pure,  majestic,  and  necessary.  The  style 
that  he  employed  was  simple,  direct,  and  appropriate, 
and  "the  common  people  heard  him  gladly."  He 
knew  what  he  spoke.  He  had  come  from  heaven  and 
was  familiar  with  its  glories.  The  fires  of  hell  had 
flamed  on  his  vision,  and  he  could  tell  their  intensity. 
He  knew  the  enormity  of  the  sin  for  which  he  died, 
and  the  "beauty  of  the  holiness"  that  he  came  to  ex- 
hibit and  impart.  His  words  were  things,  his  figures 
were  facts,  and  his  ministry  was  life.  The  seed  he 
scattered  was  from  his  heart.  Archbishop  Leighton 
says,  "  He  is  fittest  to  preach  who  is  most  like  his 
message."  When  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  rose  the 
benighted  saw  his  beams  and  came  to  the  light.  His 
intellect  and  heart,  his  voice  and  manner,  blended  in  his 
presentations  of  truth.  He  put  his  whole  self  into  his 
subjects.  If  he  was  not  a  sensational  preacher  he  was  a 
preacher  to  produce  a  sensation.  He  took  every  subject 
by  the  right  handle,  and  handled  every  subject  that  he 
took  in  the  right  way,  and  "  they  came  to  hear  him 
from  every  quarter."    He  hallowed  the  pulpit  by  his 


340 


JOHN-  P.  DURBIX. 


presence,  taught  it  by  his  doctrines,  and  inspired  it  by 
his  spirit.  Yes,  yes;  he  once  stood  where  we  stand. 
Marvelous,  peerless  honor  of  our  vocation !  The 
physician  can  boast  his  Galen,  the  jurist  his  Justin- 
ian, the  soldier  his  Leonidas,  but  the  pulpit  can  boast 
the  majesty  of  Him  that  was  "  God  manifest  in  the 
flesh."  When  John  Newton  would  actualize  his  ideal 
orator  he  took  the  virtues  of  many  and  united  them  in 
one.  But  in  this  Preacher  we  have  all  the  rays  of  light, 
all  the  forces  of  life,  and  all  the  blessing  of  speech 
centered  in  and  emanating  from  one.  For  all  time  the 
"  Prince  of  the  kings  of  the  earth  "  is  the  Prince  of 
preachers. 

Is  there  enough,  then,  in  eloquence  to  justify  the  effort 
demanded  for  its  attainment? 

If  sought  as  an  auxiliary  to  usefulness,  then  to  the 
extent  of  our  concern  to  do  good  should  be  our  desire 
for  this  means.  If  sought  for  selfish  ends,  we  may 
backslide  while  we  study  it.  If  it  is  the  eloquence  of 
sound,  not  of  soul,  it  is  no  more  than  "  sounding  brass  or 
a  tinkling  cymbal." 

Though  it  has  been  asserted  that  there  are  few  great 
orators  in  any  age,  it  may  be  said  without  presumption 
the  pulpit  has  in  every  period  had  its  share.  No  coun- 
try has  been  without  some  of  which  they  might  justly 
boast.  From  the  days  of  Apollos  and  Austin  and 
Cyprian  and  Chrysostom  there  have  been  eloquent  men 
and  "  mighty  in  the  Scriptures." 

Albert  Barnes,  than  whom  perhaps  we  have  had  no 
better  judge,  remarks  in  his  Life  of  President  Davis, 
"  It  is  one  of  the  honors  of  our  country,  young  though 
we  are,  that  we  do  not  lack  for  examples  of  the  highest 
order  of  preaching ;  and  even  now,  when  we  look 
through  the  great  lihrary  for  the  best  models,  we  in- 
stinctively fix  on  some  that  have  been  produced  on  this 


ELOQUENCE  A  WORTHY  STUDY. 


341 


side  the  ocean.  The  purest  models  of  preaching  are 
to  be  found  undoubtedly  in  the  discourses  of  the  apos- 
tles and  of  the  great  Preacher  ;  but  after  leaving  those 
times  we  shall  find  no  land,  probably,  where  there  have 
been  exhibited  more  correct  specimens  of  pure  classic 
style,  of  sober  thought,  of  instructive  discourses,  of  ap- 
peals adapted  to  rouse  the  conscience  of  a  sinner  or  to 
warm  the  heart  of  a  child  of  God,  than  have  been  fur- 
nished in  our  own  land.  The  American  pulpit,  imper- 
fect as  it  is,  is  more  elevated  in  its  influence  and  power 
than  that  of  any  other  nation,  and  in  no  other  country 
is  its  influence  so  justly  appreciated  or  so  deeply  felt 
on  the  public  mind.  Much  as  we  may  revere  the  mem- 
ory of  the  past,  much  as  we  may  learn  from  the  wisdom 
of  other  generations,  and  much  as  we  may  honor  those 
who  have  been  or  are  distinguished  for  eminent  useful- 
ness across  the  waters,  yet  if  we  wish  to  see  the  power 
of  preaching  exemplified  in  the  history  of  men,  and 
derive  instruction  from  the  lives  and  success  of  those  of 
other  times,  we  cannot  find  a  more  appropriate  place 
than  to  sit  down  at  the  feet  of  such  men  as  may  be 
named." 

Have  we  not  reason  to  believe,  from  the  eminence 
tliat  some  of  them  attained  as  speakers,  that  the  fathers 
of  Methodism,  both  in  this  and  in  the  old  country,  made 
sacred  oratory  a  careful  study  ?  To  this  day  the  Wesley- 
ans  speak  of  Samuel  Bradburn,  one  of  their  first  preach- 
ers, as  the  Demosthenes  of  their  history.  Quickly  after 
him  came  Robert  Newton,  whom  George  G.  Cookman 
called  the  "Apollos  of  Wesleyan  Methodism."  To 
show  the  appreciation  of  sacred  eloquence  by  the  holy 
William  Bramwell,  he  at  an  early  period  revised  and 
reproduced  from  the  French  an  old  work  on  the  subject, 
and  gave  it  the  name  of  The  Earnest  Preacher.  Miles 
Martindale  translated  from  the  French  another  eminent 


342 


JOHN  P.  JjUhBlX. 


author  on  the  Eloquence  of  the  Pulpit.  And  such  was 
Dr.  Durbin's  conviction  of  the  importance  of  cultivat- 
ing eloquence  in  our  ministry,  that,  while  in  the  pastor- 
ate of  a  large  charge,  as  we  have  seen,  he  formed  a 
class  that  he  personally  taught.  Mr.  Wesley  wrote  on 
"  Voice  and  Delivery,"  both  with  regard  to  pronuncia- 
tion and  action,  and  says,  "  They  are  far  more  acquirable 
than  has  been  commonly  imagined.  A  remarkahly 
weak  voice  has  by  steady  application  become  strong 
and  agreeable.  Those  who  stammered  at  almost  every 
word  have  learned  to  speak  clearly  and  plainly.  And 
many  who  were  eminently  ungraceful  in  their  pronun- 
ciation and  awkward  in  their  gesture  have  in  some  time, 
by  art  and  labor,  not  only  corrected  that  awkwardness 
of  action  and  ungracefulness  of  utterance,  but  have  be- 
come excellent  in  both,  and  in  these  respects  likewise 
the  ornaments  of  their  profession." —  Wesley's  Works, 
vi,  220.  So  wrote  the  founder  of  Methodism  for  the 
benefit  of  his  preachers. 

How  great  may  be  the  force  of  the  felt  want  of  elo- 
quence in  some  instances  may  be  judged  by  a  case. 
"  A  worthy  gentleman  listening  to  the  debates  in  the 
General  Assembly  of  the  Scottish  Kirk  in  Edinburgh, 
and  eager  to  speak  to  the  question,  but  utterly  failing 
in  his  qualification,  and  delighted  with  the  talent  shown 
v  by  Dr.  Hugh  Blair,  went  to  him  and  offered  him  one 
thousand  pounds  sterling  if  he  would  teach  him  to  speak 
with  propriety  in  public." 

"  In  much  labor  there  is  profit." 

It  has  been  stated  that  Dr.  Durbin  took  lessons  in 
eloquence  from  the  best  teachers.  It  is  certain  from 
his  attention  to  the  great  speakers  when  chaplain  of 
the  Senate,  and  his  remarks  on  such  an  orator  as  Henry 
Clay,  that  he  had  a  critical  taste  and  a  high  ideal. 
That  be  had  a  genius  for  it  must  account  for  some  of 


ELOQUENCE  A  WORTHY  STUDY. 


liis  earliest  efforts.  For,  though  we  have  heard  of 
doubts  expressed  as  to  his  having  "much  in  him,"  we 
have  it  on  good  authority  that  he  gave  positive  promise, 
and  "that  he  held  his  audiences  by  a  strange  spell  and 
thrilled  them  with  his  electric  bursts  of  surpassing  elo- 
quence." Yet  he  was  a  constant  student  of  the  power 
of  speech,  and  used  what  he  believed  to  be  the  best 
means  to  secure  the  highest  eloquence. 

A  discriminating  writer  and  great  admirer  of  the 
eloquence  of  Dr.  Chalmers,  of  its  effect,  of  his  holding 
his  audience  "  spell-bound,"  and  as  advancing  with  a 
speed  and  strength  that  none  could  withstand,  pauses 
to  ask,  "  What  was  the  secret  of  this  amazing  power?  " 
Was  it  the  importance  of  the  subject,  the  loftiness  or 
vigor  of  his  thoughts,  the  originality  or  splendor  of  the 
composition?  lie  then  says:  "All  these  have  existed 
in  equal  completeness,  perhaps,  in  other  preachers  who 
have  yet  failed  to  make  any  particularly  strong  impres- 
sion on  their  hearers;  who,  at  least,  have  never  been 
run  after  as  men  of  commanding  and  extraordinary  elo- 
quence. With  a  dull,  tame  delivery,  the  discourses  of 
Chalmers  would  read  as  well  as  they  now  do,  but  their 
fame  as  preached  would  never  have  been  achieved." 
He  adds,  "There  is  something  potent,  then,  about  de- 
livery. The  greatest  of  ancient  orators  assigned  to 
this  the  first,  second,  and  third  rank  in  the  order  of 
qualities  requisite  for  eloquence." 

We  abate  nothing  of  our  estimate  of  the  excellence 
of  his  style,  the  soundness  of  his  exposition,  the  fullness 
of  his  matter,  the  force  of  his  reasoning,  or  the  skillful 
construction  of  his  discourse,  when  we  say  the  pre-emi- 
nence of  Dr.  Durbin  as  a  preacher  was  in  his  imperial 
imagination,  the  dramatic  power  of  which  he  was  mas- 
ter, his  voice  that  obeyed  all  his  mandates,  the  divine 
unction  that  attended  his  presentation  of  the  word,  and 


344 


JOHX  P.  DURBIX. 


in  his  peerless  delivery.  Well  as  the  sermons  he  has 
left  us  read,  it  was  eloquence  that  gave  them  power.  If 
any  thing  is  better  than  the  best  thing  we  have  to  say 
it  is — the  best  way  of  saying  it. 

In  introducing  the  eloquence  of  Dr.  Durbin  we  made 
allusion  to  the  three  men  who  formed  the  triumvirate 
of  eloquence  in  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  ,  The 
benign  Providence  that  permitted  the  sainted  Summer- 
field  to  burst  forth  as  a  light  to  shine  over  a  continent, 
in  his  twenty-seventh  year  extinguished  his  beams.  How 
much  brighter  would  have  been  his  light  had  he  been  al- 
lowed to  attain  his  meridian  we  may  conjecture  rather 
than  predict.  But  Henry  B.  Bascom  and  John  P.  Durbin 
lived  long  enough  to  reveal  their  full  powers.  These 
two  men  were  for  many  years  moving  in  the  same  cir- 
cles and  commanding  vast  audiences  by  the  charms  of 
their  eloquence.  Each  had  those  that  admired  him  the 
more,  while  the  high  merits  of  both  were  confessed  by 
all.  They  were  Henry  Biddleman  Bascom  and  John 
Price  Durbin.  They  both  rose  in  the  West;  they  both 
began  their  ministry  with  about  equal  disadvantages 
as  to  education.  In  a  few  years  they  were  professors 
in  Augusta  College,  Kentucky  ;  they  both  traveled 
at  large  as  agents — Durbin  for  Augusta  College,  Bas- 
com for  colonization.  Near  the  same  period  they 
each  served  as  chaplain  to  the  American  Congress. 
Durbin  was  editor  of  The  Christian  Advocate  and  Jour- 
nal, Bascom  of  the  Southern  Quarterly  Review.  At  a 
later  time  they  were  presidents  of  different  colleges — 
Durbin  of  Dickinson,  Bascom  of  Transylvani  >.  They 
met  as  Delegates  in  the  General  Conference  of  1844. 
Bascom  wrote  "  the  protest  "  to  its  action.  Durbin  wrote 
the  reply.  In  1850  Bascom  was  made  Bishop  of  the 
Church,  South.  In  1852  Durbin  declined  to  be  a  candi- 
date for  the  episcopacy,  preferring  missionary  service. 


ELOQUENCE  A  WORTHY  STUDY. 


345 


Bascom  died  when  fifty-four  years  of  age,  Durbin  at 
seventy-six. 

As  when  they  lived  many  things  were  said  of  their 
eloquence,  so  now  we  hear  inquiry  as  to  the  two.  As 
there  may  be  comparison  without  disparagement,  the 
writer,  having  heard  them  both,  may  suggest  some  con- 
trasts as  well  as  some  resemblances. 

In  some  things  few  men  could  compare  with  Bascom, 
and  in  some  things  Durbin  stood  alone.  In  port  and 
person  Bascom  was  a  prince.  Durbin  had  no  external 
attraction  except  in  refined  taste  and  manly  bearing. 
Bascom's  style  was  gorgeous;  Durbin's  luminous.  Only 
the  personality  of  Bascom  broke  the  charge  of  bom- 
bast. Durbin's  language  is  its  own  vindication.  Bascom 
labored  as  if  the  body  was  the  engine  to  give  power  to 
the  soul,  Durbin  as  if  the  soul  only  used  the  body  to 
show  itself  in  its  intensity  and  ardor.  The  first  para- 
graph of  Bascom  was  a  burst  of  eloquence.  With 
an  electrifying  shock  Durbin  closed.  Bascom  began 
as  if  five  minutes  were  to  do  the  work,  Durbin  as  if 
preparing  a  foundation  for  a  pyramid.  Under  Bascom 
infidels  hid  for  very  shame  ;  under  Durbin  they  threw 
down  their  weapons  and  sued  for  pardon.  From  first  to 
last  Bascom  was  vehement ;  Durbin  restrained  his  vehe- 
mence for  cumulative  force.  Bascom  was  Niagara, 
with  the  rapids  behind  it  ;  Durbin  was  the  Hudson, 
with  mountains  and  vale,  with  highlands  and  palisades 
crowned  with  villas  and  pediments  gleaming  like  dia- 
monds upon  crests  of  beauty.  But  as  amid  the  charms 
of  that  noble  river  there  is  the  strength  of  a  West 
Point  so  amid  the  attractions  of  Durbin  there  was  the 
power  of  moral  conquest.  The  effect  of  the  preaching 
of  these  two  men  on  a  minister  was  dissimilar.  On 
listening  to  Bascom  one  felt  as  did  the  musician  when 
he  exclaimed,  listening  to  one  more  skilled,  "  I  will  bury 


845 


JOHN  P.  DURE IX. 


my  instrument."  On  hearing  Durbin  he  would  say,  "I 
will  dig  it  up,  for  now  I  have  learned  how  to  play  better." 
If  we  should  attempt  to  convey  an  idea  of  these  men  by 
authors,  let  Robert  Montgomery  and  Richard  Winter 
Hamilton  represent  Bascom,  Bishop  Atterbury  and 
Archbishop  Tillotson,  Durbin.  They  were  alike  men 
of  rare  qualities,  endowments,  and  successes.  They 
are  still  great  in  the  influence  as  well  as  reputation 
that  follows  them.  For  either  to  have  attempted  the 
other  would  have  been  to  mar  the  economy  of  God. 
As  in  the  works  of  creation,  there  was  unity  in  di- 
versity. 


CONCLUSION. 


347 


CHAPTER  XXI. 
Conclusion. 

IN  the  General  Conference  of  1872  Dr.  Durbin,  as  we 
have  seen,  declined  re-election  as  Corresponding  Sec- 
retary of  the  Missionary  Society.  Then  he  whose  life 
had  been  so  full  of  labor,  and  whose  labor  had  been  so 
full  of  grand  results,  withdrew  from  the  active  services 
that  had  so  long  been  his  delight.  Needful  as  rest 
had  seemed  to  him,  it  was  soon  found  that,  out  of  his 
accustomed  work,  the  powers  of  his  mind  and  body 
more  rapidly  failed.  He  rarely  appeared  on  the  plat- 
form or  in  the  pulpit,  and  after  a  serene  and  happy 
old  age  he  was  stricken  with  paralysis,  and  on  October 
18,  1876,  at  his  residence  in  New  York  city,  sur- 
rounded by  his  children  and  grandchildren,  he  saw  the 
last  of  earth  and  first  of  heaven.  The  Church  ren- 
dered him  appropriate  honor,  and  he  was  buried  at 
Laurel  Hill  Cemetery,  Philadelphia. 

In  his  life  of  the  Rev.  John  Ryland,  Sr.,  Dr.  Newman 
when  speaking  of  his  death  says  :  "Well  do  I  remember 
the  awful  stillness  of  that  evening.  I  felt  as  if  all  the 
world  was  dead."  Strong  language  this,  but  the  lan- 
guage of  the  heart  is  always  strong..  Kindred  to 
this  was  the  feeling  of  the  writer  when  John  P.  Dur- 
bin ceased  from  among  men.  But  as  "  mists  and  vapors, 
when  exhaled,  descend  in  rains,  as  fountains  and  rivers 
pour  their  fullness  into  the  ocean,  as  every  morning  sun 
rises  but  to  decline,  by  the  same  necessity,  the  same 
inviolable  order  of  nature,  every  man  is  born  to  die." 


348 


JOHX  P.  DURBIX. 


"  I  said,  Ye  are  gods"  by  the  loftiness  of  your  intel- 
lect, by  the  dignity  of  your  station,  and  by  the  glory  of 
your  achievements  ;  "  but  ye  shall  die  like  men,  and 
fall  like  one  of  the  princes."  Mortality  shall  shoot 
its  shaft,  and  neither  majesty  nor  merit  shall  change  its 
aim  or  impair  its  power. 

But  who  can  think  of  the  removal  of  such  a  moral 
force  from  the  earth  as  John  P.  Durbin  exerted  with- 
out feeling  this  world  has  sustained  a  loss?  That  life  is 
long  enough  for  our  highest  interest  when  it  reaches 
life's  great  end.  But  who  that  contemplates  the  de- 
parture of  one  who  has  caused  the  blessing  of  so  many 
ready  to  perish  to  come  upon  him  without  think- 
ing of  loss  to  the  race  ?  We  are  accustomed  to  say 
"God  buries  his  workman,  but  carries  on  his  work." 
He  does.  No  one  doubts  this  when  he  knows  that  the 
mantle  of  Elijah  rests  upon  Elisha.  But  when  the 
leader  and  lawgiver  of  Israel  died  the  Almighty  said, 
"Moses,  my  servant,  is  dead."  This  is  pathos  above 
the  human;  and  it  is  as  if  God  thought  more  about  a 
bereaved  world  than  of  the  reward  of  the  saint. 

But  beams  from  the  Sun  of  Righteousness  form  the 
rainbow  of  hope  in  the  falling  tears  of  Christian  affec- 
tion. The  inexperienced  youth  of  eighteen  years  who 
'•girded  on  the  harness,"  ere  "his  hands  had  been  taught 
to  war  or  his  fingers  to  fight " — that  in  his  early  man- 
hood showed  such  discipline  and  skill,  and  that  in  ad- 
vanced life  could  look  back  upon  victories  gained  in 
perilous  conflicts — he  surely  could  illustrate  the  Script- 
ure, "Let  not  him  that  girdeth  on  the  harness  boast 
himself  as  he  that  putteth  it  off."  He  girded  it  on 
with  uncertainty  as  to  the  issue  ;  he  put  it  off  with  the 
recognition  of  the  nature  of  the  victories  won ;  he  that 
girded  it  on  with  trembling  put  it  off  in  triumph. 
And  it  was  fitting  that  he  who  had  been  the  means  of 


CONCLUSION. 


349 


bringing  so  many  sons  to  glory  should  himself  at  three 
score  and  sixteen  hear  the  voice  of  the  great  Commander 
saying  : 

u  Servant  of  God,  well  done  1 

Thy  glorious  warfare's  past. 
The  battle 's  fought,  the  race  is  won, 

And  thou  art  crowned  at  last." 

As  we  have  endeavored  to  make  an  analysis  of  the 
powers  that  distinguished  Dr.  Durbin  as  a  preacher,  so 
we  may  notice  him  as  he  appears  before  us  and  in  his 
various  relations  &<  sl  man. 

He  was  twice  married,  in  each  instance  to  a  daugh- 
ter of  Alexander  Cook,  Esq.,  of  Philadelphia.  By 
his  first  wife  he  had  three  sons  and  two  daughters. 
She  entered  into  rest  in  1836,  while  the  Doctor  was  at 
Dickinson  College.  Only  one  of  the  sons  survives,  Al- 
exander C.  Durbin,  Esq.,  of  Montclair,  X.  J.  One  of  his 
daughters  was  married  to  William  Whitaker,  Esq.,  of 
Philadelphia;  the  other  daughter  was  married  to 
Fletcher  Harper,  Jr.,  of  New  York.  But  a  short  time 
has  elapsed  since  the  tears  of  the  Church  and  of  human- 
ity fell  upon  her  grave. 

All  the  wealth  of  Dr.  Durbin  came  through  his 
marriage.  It  is  doubtful  if  his  salary  ever  more  than 
supported  him.  In  domestic  life  Dr.  Durbin  showed 
the  love  of  the  companion,  the  devotion  of  the  father, 
the  kindness  of  a  friend;  and  affection  and  reverence 
were  rendered  him  as  the  head  of  the  family  and  the 
priest  of  the  household.  Even  in  his  home  he  was  not 
without  the  impress  that  public  duties  made  upon  his 
spirit.  He  was  thoughtful  and  weighty,  but  was 
observant  of  those  attentions  that  go  so  far  toward  im- 
parting happiness  and  dignity  to  domestic  life.  He 
trained  his  children  in  useful  study,  while  he  impressed 
the  duty  of  remembering  the  Creator  in  the  days  of 


350 


JOHN  P.  DURBLV. 


their  youth.  His  table  was  not  made  a  snare  to  con- 
science by  indulging  conversation  that  would  violate 
"  the  golden  rule,"  or  be  likely  to  impair  the  proper 
influence  of  the  minister  or  the  man.  In  extending,  as 
in  receiving,  hospitality,  he  was  without  display.  He 
was  accustomed  to  say,  "when  a  friend  calls  in  we 
just  set  one  more  plate,  and  it  is  no  trouble."  His 
friendships  were  real  and  tenacious.  We  can  see  the 
heart  of  the  man  in  the  grateful  memory  that  he  main- 
tained of  those  who  in  his  comparative  youth  rendered 
him  great  kindness.  The  following  is  a  glance  at  a 
correspondence  of  fifty  years.  It  was  his  custom  to 
send  his  New  Year  salutations.  Even  when  his  domestic 
bereavement  was  exerting  its  depressing  power  he 
adhered  to  this  habit. 

Writing  to  one  whom  he  had  known  from  her  child- 
hood, and  at  whose  father's  house  he  had  received  great 
sympathy  in  his  early  struggles,  he  speaks  of  "your 
dear  mother  and  mine"  and  says  :  "  She  is  to  me  half 
natural  mother  and  half  Christian  sister  ;  therefore  I 
have  double  pleasure  in  loving  her."  To  the  same  he 
writes  when  she  was  in  deep  sorrow  from  the  death  of 
her  husband,  who  had  been  an  honor  to  the  Church  and 
an  example  of  Christian  uprightness  and  purity  in 
th*e  community.  Philadelphia,  April  4,  1853:  "  Grace, 
mercy  and  peace  from  God  our  heavenly  Father,  be 
given  unto  you  all,  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  to 
sustain  and  comfort  you  under  your  sore  bereavement. 
Out  of  my  immediate  family  circle  I  could  not  have 
lost  a  friend  whose  death  I  do  so  sincerely  regret  and 
so  deeply  feel ;  my  early,  warm,  fast  friend." 

We  see  the  father's  heart  in  a  letter  dated  New  York, 
May  13,  1859.  It  relates  to  the  death  of  his  son 
Willie.  "  I  write  to  say  that  not  all  the  light  has  gone 
out  in  our  house,  but  one  of  the  most  pleasant  and 


CONCLUSION 


351 


promising  is  extinguished.  It  is  strange.  When  I  sud- 
denly think  of  him  it  seems  that  he  cannot  be  dead, that  he 
is  only  asleep  and  must  awake.  Alas!  He  is  dead.  But 
he  died  in  peace ;  his  death  was  beautiful,  triumphant  ; 
he  was  sensible  to  the  last,  spoke  to  us  within  five 
minutes  of  his  death ;  his  last  words  were  heard  on  the 
subject  of  religion,  and  just  before  he  died  they  were, 
'  I  go  to  Jesus  just  as  I  am."'  Writing  of  early  years 
in  1861,  he  says,  "I  am  too  old  to  create  other  such 
friendships  again.  With  your  dear  mother  and  myself 
the  journey  has  been  a  long  one  and  not  yet  ended,  but 
Ave  are  so  near  to  Jordan  that  we  ought  now  to  see 
over,  to  the  promised  land."  In  the  fullness  of  Christian 
hope  he  writes,  "Our  next  dwelling  together,  all  will  be  in 
heaven  "  but  adds,  "  I  must  not  preach,  nor  is  it  needed." 

In  18G6,  amid  the  cares  that  crowded  him,  when 
about  to  sail  for  Europe,  he  wrote  with  the  devotion 
of  ardent  friendship ;  when  abroad  amid  the  interests 
of  travel  and  the  responsibilities  of  office  as  Correspond- 
ing Secretary  of  the  Mission ary  Society  he  kept  before 
him  the  helpers  of  his  early  joys. 

July  4,  1866  he  writes  to  a  friend  :  "  Mrs.  Durbin  has 
just  handed  me  a  letter  she  has  written  to  Elizabeth, 
and  requests  me  to  send  or  forward  it.  .  .  .  God,  whose 
work  made  us  friends,  and  whose  mercy  and  goodness 
have  kept  us  friends  for  many  years,  will,  I  trust,  spare 
us  yet  to  see  each  other  in  the  flesh;  you  now  seem  to  me 
to  be  the  only  link  that  binds  me  to  my  early  ministry 
in  the  old  stone  church  in  Cincinnati.  Those  were 
bright  days,  and  I  never  can  forget  them.  I  say  you 
are  the  only  link  in  my  ministry  in  the  old  stone 
church ;  perhaps  I  ought  to  add,  Lizzie  and  Hester  and 
Mary.  They  were  children,  and  link  me  back  to  my 
youth  rather  than  to  my  ministry.  God  bless  them  for 
your  sake  and  for  my  sake  ;  for  they  know  that  I  love 


352 


JOHN  P.  DURDIX. 


them.  .  .  .  Let  us  strive  so  to  live  that  we  may  meet 
in  heaven."  This  letter  was  written  amid  the  mount- 
ains of  Switzerland. 

Again  he  writes  from  Biel,  Switzerland,  July  16, 
1866:  "The  evening  of  life  is  drawing  on  in  both  of 
our  cases,  but  we  have  been  many  years  preparing  for 
it,  and  I  hope  it  will  close  on  both  of  us  without  a 
cloud.  Let  us  take  care  that  this  shall  be  the  case.  I 
have  thought  that  you  and  the  children  might  be 
jDleased  to  see  the  inclosed  photographs,  taken  in  Ger- 
many. The  vignette  one  does  not  look  like  the  boy 
preacher  that  used  to  live  with  you  in  Sycamore  Street 
nearly  forty  years  ago.  We  are  all  quite  well  and  have 
been  quite  well  since  we  left  home.  We  have  seen  the 
most  interesting  places  and  objects  in  Germany  and 
Switzerland,  and  I  have  visited  nearly  all  of  our  mis- 
sions in  those  countries.  The  war  in  Germany  pre- 
vented my  seeing  our  missions  in  Saxony  and  Ham- 
burg, and  in  Denmark  and  Norway  ajid  Sweden.  But 
I  propose  to  visit  there  while  Margaret  remains  in 
England.  We  go  to  Geneva  and  on  to  Paris  this  week, 
where  Margaret  and  John  will  remain  two  or  three 
weeks,  and  then  go  over  to  London.  We  expect  to 
return  to  New  York  in  the  first  half  of  October. 

"I  do  not  expect  you  to  be  at  the  trouble  of  reading 
this,  much  less  of  answering  it.  But  Hester  or  Lizzie 
can  do  both,  for  your  and  my  benefit.  A  letter  written 
on  receipt  of  this  and  inclosed  to  the  office  in  New 
\  ork,  to  Brother  Terry,  would  reach  me  in  London, 
whither  Brother  Terry  will  forward  it.  Let  Mary  and 
Edward  share  this  letter.  Adieu  ;  may  you  yet  live 
many  days.  Margaret  bids  me  give  her  love  to  you  all. 
She  wrote  to  Lizzie  a  few  days  ago." 

To  the  same  friend  he  writes,  Xew  York,  September 
24,  1870:    "  I  cannot  tell  you  and  your  dear  mother 


CONCLUSION. 


353 


how  much  we  are  grieved  by  the  death  of  John. 
Although  it  was  expected,  it  came  so  suddenly  that  we 
could  scarcely  realize  it.  He  was  struck  down  Saturday 
morning,  some  time  before  day,  in  his  room,  and  he  was 
insensible  to  his  end.  It  occurred  at  Saratoga,  among 
strangers.  I  arrived  two  hours  before  he  died,  but  he 
knew  me  not.  He  died  easily."  ...  He  adds,  "  Your 
dear  mother  will  feel  as  I  do,  somewhat.  We  feel 
like  pilgrims  standing  on  the  bank  of  a  river  wait- 
ing to  cross,  while  the  young  and  beautiful  cross  over 
before  us  ;  but  when  we  do  cross  we  shall  find  them 
on  the  other  side."  Again  writing  of  the  same  painful 
event,  the  death  of  his  son  John,  he  says  :  "He  died 
from  apoplexy.  .  .  .  For  three  or  four  years  his  mind  had 
been  almost  entirely  on  recovering  his  health  and  saving 
his  soul.  I  believe  he  escaped  into  the  bosom  of  his 
heavenly  Father.  It  is  my  earnest  purpose  to  join  him 
there."  In  the  midst  of  his  own  sorrows  he  thinks  of 
another's  anxiety,  and  writes,  November  26,  1870: 
"If  you  see  Edward  tell  him  I  sympathize  with  him  in 
Mary's  ill-health,  and  do  earnestly  pray  that  she  may 
be  spared  to  him  and  his  children."  God  permitted 
this  honored  servant  to  be  visited  with  stroke  upon 
stroke.  His  heart  bleeds  at  the  death  of  his  grandson, 
named  after  him.  He  says:  "Affliction  makes  us 
remember  our  faults  and  our  friends.  Our  dear  little 
Durbin  is  no  more.  He  died  last  Saturday  morning 
without  a  struggle  or  a  sigh.  He  was  sensible  to  the 
last,  and  spoke  to  his  mother  not  more  than  five 
minutes  before  he  died.  He  said:  'Mamma,  is. that 
you?'  She  answered,  'Yes.'  He  said,  'I  cannot  see 
you.'  He  was  then  laid  down  on  his  pillow  and  died  in  a 
minute."  The  gloom  of  Dr.  Durbin's  mind  again  caused 
him  to  say,  "  I  feel  tempted  sometimes  to  complain  of 
Providence,  but  I  still  strive  to  sav,  'Thy  will  be 
24 


3-34 


JOHN  P.  DURBIN. 


done.'  "  But  in  the  midst  of  his  sorrow  he  writes  :  "  I 
might  as  well  send  my  New  Year's  salutations  to  you 
all.  How  little  did  I  dream  that  my  only  grandson 
would  be  taken  from  us!  He  was  with  us  in  New 
York  last  New  Year  full  of  life  and  hope.  Now  he  is 
gone — I  trust,  to  the  heavenly  world,  to  grow  up  there 
free  from  danger  and  sorrow." 

We  may  speak  of  Br.  Durbirts  personal  appearance. 
He  was  of  medium  size.  His  head  was  not  large ;  his  fore- 
head was  low,  narrow  and  receding.  His  eye  was  hazel 
and  was  sometimes  sleepy.  In  repose  it  suggested  no 
genius.  It  was,  in  size  and  show,  what  circumstances 
made  it.  It  was  capable  of  an  indefinable  expression. 
His  hair  in  early  life  was  light  and  soft.  Time  gave 
it  a  darkish  hue.  His  mouth  was  that  of  an  orator. 
His  dress  was  faultless.  His  senses  were  unimpaired, 
even  when  his  body  and  mind  showed  the  effects  of 
age,  if  not  of  labor. 

Bishop  Wiley  says  of  the  likeness  contained  in  this 
volume  : 

The  portrait  we  consider  the  greatest  success  that 
has  yet  been  attained  in  getting  the  physiognomy  of 
Dr.  Durbin  on  paper.  He  is  one  of  the  impracticable 
men  for  all  kinds  of  artists ;  the  photographer  dreads 
such  a  man,  so  much  of  whose  facial  appearance  and 
character  depends  upon  his  moods,  and  whose  appear- 
ance differs  so  widely  as  you  look  upon  him  alive,  and 
with  his  animated  countenance  aglow  with  feeling  and 
inspiration,  or  ns  he  sits  down  in  quiet  repose  to  have  his 
face  caught  up  in  the  camera.  The  same  facts  make  him 
the  dread  of  portrait  artists  and  of  engravers.  We 
remember  his  leading  us  at  one  time  to  look  at  a  very 
finely-painted  portrait  hanging  in  a  room  of  his  son-in- 
law's  house.  The  picture  was  an  admirably-executed 
one,  but  we  were  mortified  at  our  blunder  in  not  for  a 
moment  supposing  it  had  been  intended  for  himself ; 
but  were  saved  by  his  genial  laugh  when  we  in  no- 


CONCLUSION. 


355 


cently  asked  whose  portrait  it  was.  Several  attempts 
have  been  made  to  put  him  on  wood,  but  the  failure 
has  been  complete.  Years  ago  Dr.  Stevens,  then 
editor  of  the  National  Magazine,  made  a  desperate 
effort  to  secure  his  likeness,  but  unmercifully  threw  the 
block  under  the  table.  A  few  years  ago  the  Doctor 
visited  Europe  for  the  purpose  of  studying  more 
closely  our  European  missions.  The  Germans  caught 
him,  led  him  to  a  gallery  in  Berlin,  and  in  a  moment 
the  sun  fixed  him  on  the  plate  in  one  of  his  best  moods. 
From  this  photograph  our  engraver  has  produced  the 
excellent  likeness  that  embellishes  this  book. 

The  manners  of  Dr.  Durbin  were  such  as  would  indi- 
cate a  born  gentleman.  It  cost  him  no  effort  to  be 
what  he  was.  Dr.  McClintock  said  of  him,  "  He  was 
always  a  gentleman  through  and  through."  In  per- 
sonal intercourse  he  had  a  quiet  dignity,  and,  though 
never  austere,  rarely  relaxed.  While  he  was  every- 
where recognized  in  his  superior  talents  and  position, 
in  no  instance  did  we  ever  know  him  to  indicate  the  % 
existence  of  vanity.  On  going  into  a  company  there 
was  a  reserve  that  might  be  construed  to  shyness  or  to 
pride.  There  was  the  business  rather  than  the  social 
air.  But  contact  and  conversation  drew  him  out,  and 
he  mingled  with  the  company  and  in  sympathy  with 
the  occasion.  With  personal  friends  he  could  even  be- 
come sportive,  and  one  remarks  that  at  such  time  he 
had  a  smile  full  of  benignity  and  delight  and  could  in- 
dulge a  hearty  laugh.  Under  no  circumstances  would 
he  make  himself  the  hero  of  the  company.  He  was 
never  the  monopolist  of  conversation.  Nor  did  he  fail 
to  give  respectful  attention  to  the  opinions  of  those  least 
in  harmony  with  his  own.  He  entered  into  no  cabal, 
and  was  a  stranger  to  cliques  and  cunning.  He  sought 
not  by  indirection  what  open  honesty  would  spurn. 
Jealousies,  envies,  rivalries  were  not  indulged,  when  the 


356 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


greatest  freedom  prevailed.  Though  not  remarkable 
for  fluency,  wit,  or  humor,  he  had  enough  of  each,  which 
with  the  salt  of  wisdom  made  all  savory,  and  imparted 
the  raciness  that  is  remembered  without  a  pang.  The 
positions  that  he  filled  were  thrust  upon  him,  and  such 
were  the  responsibilities  that  he  felt,  and  such  his  de- 
votion to  his  work,  as  to  leave  little  time  for  rest,  for 
amusement,  or  relaxation.  So  intent  was  he  on  dis- 
charging the  obligations  that  his  place  imposed,  and  such 
were  his  habiis  of  reserve,  that  though  while  in  Europe 
multiplied  opportunities  were  afforded  him  for  mingling 
in  the  society  of  distinguished  men,  he  avoided  rather 
than  sought  such  intercourse. 

Dr.  Durbin's  position  in  his  Church  and  in  community 
for  fifty  years  gave  him  power.  But  who  ever  knew 
him  to  be  arrogant  with  the  weak  or  supple  with  the 
strong?  If  at  any  time  he  was  subjected  as  a  writer, 
or  in  any  way,  to  criticism,  he  let  it  pass,  and  it  was  a 
rule  with  him  to  allow  no  concerns  for  the  result  of  duty. 

The  same  charateristics  that  marked  his  intercourse 
in  society  distinguished  him  in  his  Conference  rela- 
tions. He  was  transferred  to  the  Philadelphia  Confer- 
ence in  1836.    It  was  a  Conference  of  strong  men. 

The  princely  Pitman  was  in  his  prime.  The  sublime 
Lybrand  was  exerting  his  attractions,  the  majestic  Sorin 
was  never  greater,  and  Henry  White  was  melting  his 
congregation  by  his  pathos.  The  late  Bishops  Janes 
and  Scott,  and  T.  J.  Thompson  and  Solomon  Higgins 
and  William  Cooper  were  known  as  distinguished  in 
the  business  of  the  Conference.  Among  such  men  J. 
P.  Durbin  received  the  honor  that  his  station  would 
suogest  and  his  talents  command.  But  he  showed  the 
deference  that  his  association  prompted,  and  by  real 
affiliation  secured  the  confidence,  the  affection,  and  ad- 
miration of  his  brethren. 


CONCLUSION. 


357 


Mis  identity  with  the  Conference  was  not  nominal 
but  real.  He  observed  its  doings  and  took  part  in  its 
debates.  As  a  rule,  he  spoke  only  when  others  had  ex- 
pressed their  convictions  or  thoughts  and  the  subject 
was  fully  before  them.  Then,  with  a  modesty  and 
suggestiveness  that  gave  weight  to  his  words,  he  would 
express  a  judgment  that  was  often  like  the  conclusion  of 
the  matter.  When,  as  in  some  instances,  there  was  a 
slight  abrasion,  he  was  even  remarkable  for  the  ur- 
banity of  his  manners  and  for  the  control  of  language. 

He  who  should  have  accepted  Dr.  Durbin  as  an  ex- 
ample of  "  clerical  manners "  in  debate  might  never 
find  cause  to  criticise  his  conclusion.  Seven  times  suc- 
cessively was  he  elected  a  delegate  to  the  General  Con- 
ference, and  his  Conference  never  ceased  thus  to  honor 
him  till  the  infirmities  of  age  forbade  the  compliment. 

The  Christian  character  of  Dr.  Durbin  re-enforced  his 
ministerial  influence.  Though  not  accustomed  to  ex- 
pressions of  spiritual  rapture  he  had  the  fruits  of  the 
Spirit,  and  the  consciousness  of  divine  approval. 

He  had  the  same  kind  of  reasoning  in  regard  to 
his  spiritual  character  that  many  of  the  most  con- 
scientious and  consistent  Christians  have  indulged.  So 
far  are  such  from  the  presumption  too  common  in  the 
Church  that  they  fail  even  to  rest  as  fully  on  the  foun- 
dations of  faith  as  facts  justify  and  the  word  commands. 
Xo  one  that  did  not  know  the  youthful  Durbin  can 
tell  the  tendencies  that  he  recognized,  fought  against, 
and  overcame.  As  we  saw  him  in  his  quiet  reserve  and 
caution,  we  would  not  suspect  that  his  temper  ever  re- 
quired particular  guard.  But  he  knew  the  struggle 
that  it  cost  him;  that  he  had  attained  so  perfect  a  mastery 
is  one  of  the  evidences  of  the  reign  of  grace  in  his 
heart.  The  brief  extracts  that  we  have  made  from  the 
letters  of  friendship  show  the  devout  spirit  of  the 


358 


JOHX  P.  LURBIX. 


man.  Nor  can  we  think  of  his  demeanor  in  the 
house  of  worship,  the  care  with  which  he  guarded  the 
divine  service  from  the  interruptions  and  intrusions  so 
common  in  some  of  the  churches,  the  instructive  and 
edifying  manner  in  which  he  read  his  hymns,  and  the 
devout  rendering  of  the  lessons  from  the  Holy  Script- 
ures, his  profound  reverence  in  prayer,  and  the  outflow- 
ing of  his  heart  in  his  comprehensive  supplications, 
without  thinking  of  him  as  an  example  in  his  place. 
His  prayers  might  vary  in  length  and  ardor,  but  not 
in  becoming  humility  or  in  the  simplicity' of  language. 
He  was  a  child  speaking  to  or  pleading  with  his  Father. 
But  there  were  times  when  he  seemed  to  open  heaven 
to  the  penitents  at  the  altar  and  to  hold  back  the  arm 
of  the  Almighty  in  providence.  No  one  can  conceive 
of  such  prayer  without  recognizing  the  grasp  of  his  faith 
and  the  firmness  of  his  trust.  Illustrations  of  this  power 
have  been  furnished  in  the  narrative  of  Dr.  Joseph 
Longking  and  in  the  letter  of  Dr.  O.  EL  Tiffany.  We 
give  one  in  this  place  from  Dr.  Spottswood.  It  was 
at  a  camp-meeting.    He  says  of  Dr.  Durbin: 

He  talks  with  God  as  one  talketh  with  his  friend. 
He  tells  his  heavenly  Father  the  simple  story  of  the 
people's  trouble  and  expense  in  coming  there,  of  the 
purity  of  their  motives,  to  get  good  and  to  do  good, 
and  of  the  constant  and  excessive  rain  that  had  in- 
terfered with  his  children's  holy  plans.  "Now,  Lord," 
he  prays,  "If  it  be  thy  will,  give  us  clear  weather 
from  this  time  to  the  end  of  the  meeting."  Here  he 
lingers,  wrestles,  asks,  pleads,  and  importunes.  At  last, 
in  an  exclamation,  nay,  in  a  triumphant  shout,  he  de- 
clares "It  shall  be  done;  we  shall  have  clear  skies  from 
this  time  forth  !  "  Never  can  the  teller  of  this  incident 
forget  his  feeling  at  that  moment.  It  was  a  cold  shud- 
der as  the  thought  rushed  into  his  brain,  What  if  the 
preacher's  prediction  should  prove  a  false  prophecy  ? 
But  it  did  not;  that  "prayer  of  a  righteous  man"  was 


CvXCLUSION. 


.'559 


no  doubt  directly  inwrought  in  his  soul  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  It  was  an  effectual,  fervent  prayer,  and  might 
by  a  sublime  faith,  to  which  all  things  are  possible,  ac- 
complish its  end.  It  verified  the  divine  affirmation —it 
availed  much;  for  the  rain  ceased,  the  clouds  departed, 
and  God  gave  clear  weather  from  that  time  to  the  close 
of  the  camp-meeting  !  He  that  had  such  access  to  the 
Almighty,  that  so  clearly  told  inquiring  souls  how  to 
find  the  heart  of  God,  was  not  without  the  comforts 
and  strength  of  successful  prayer.  Sometimes  in  his 
sermons  he  bore  his  grand  testimony  of  his  personal 
experience  of  the  "powers  of  the  world  to  come." 

In  a  conversation  with  the  Rev.  A.  Lowry,  D.D.,  when 
dining  at  the  residence  of  his  son-in-law,  Mr.  Whita- 
ker,  of  Philadelphia,  in  1876,  Dr.  Durbin  in  substance 
said,  "In  my  experience  as  a  Christian  I  have  never 
been  impulsive,  but  I  have  a  steady  peace  with  God 
and  am  resting  in  the  truth  of  his  word."  A  short 
time  before  his  death  Bishop  Janes,  the  Missionary  Sec- 
retaries, and  the  Book  Agents,  called  on  him  to  present 
a  resolution  passed  by  the  Bishops  at  their  last  meeting. 
On  hearing  it  read  he  replied,  "  he  could  recollect  but  one 
paper  of  the  sort  in  all  his  life  that  was  not  distasteful 
to  him,"  adding,  "this  paper  was  so  evidently  sincere 
and  was  expressed  in  such  terms  that  he  received  it 
with  gladness,  and  would  cherish  it  among  his  pleasant 
memories."  He  alluded  to  his  Christian  experience. 
At  first  he  said,  "The  fact  that  he  had  not  the  joys 
which  other  Christians  had  gave  rise  to  questioning 
doubts.  But  he  afterward  had  learned  better,  and 
though  he  had  never  been  demonstrative,  his  experience 
as  a  Christian  had  been  and  still  was  satisfactory  to 
his  heart." 

But  in  considering  the  elements  of  Dr.  Durbin's 
strength  there  should  be  a  steady  recognition  of  his 
sterling  common  sense.    Amid  his  multiplied,  diverse, 


360 


JOHN  P.  I)  URBIN. 


and  brilliant  endowments  this  in'  many  cases  was  a 
basal  fact  in  accounting  for  his  success  in  his  varied 
labors  and  in  enterprises  of  great  moment.  It  did  what 
nothing  else  could  do. 

Want  of  this  power,  besides  subjecting  the  individual 
to  humiliating  criticisms,  is  sometimes  attended  with 
worse  consequences  than  result  from  deficiency  of  edu- 
cation. Was  it  not  this  in  St.  Paul  that  caught  some 
with  guile?  Was  it  not  this  in  Dr.  Durbin  that  caused 
tire  management  of  difficult  cases  in  college  to  end  in 
peace  and  honor  ?  Common  sense  is  sometimes  called 
"mother-wit,"  as  if  inherited  from  the  mother.  It  is 
a  gift  of  nature,  but  may  appear,  like  other  mental  fac- 
ulties, in  various  degrees.  It  may  be  improved  by  ob- 
servation and  exercise  or  impaired  by  indifference  to 
its  value  or  neglect  of  its  dictates. 

Some  have  conceived  the  idea  that  remarkable  gen- 
iuses and  profound  scholars  are  as  a  rule  wanting  in  this 
power.  If  so,  the  fault  is  not  in  genius  or  scholarship. 
Common  sense  is  exercised  before  learning  is  acquired. 
It  is  one  of  the  earliest,  as  it  is  one  of  the  most  neces- 
sary, exercises  of  the  mind.  It  may  be  called  common 
sense,  as  that  which  we  may  expect  in  every  well-organ- 
ized humnn  being.  We  therefore  look  for  it  in  men 
much  as  we  do  for  intuition  and  conscience.  It  is  not 
what  is  sometimes  seen  in  absence  of  mind.  This  may 
be  found  in  the  greatest  intellects,  and  is  the  result  of 
mental  absorption.  Roused  to  its  exercise  it  is  found 
in  its  force. 

One  of  the  infelicities  of  the  lack  of  common  sense 
is  seen  when  he  who  is  deficient  cannot  be  persuaded 
of  its  absence  or  its  need,  and  so  gives  no  hope  of  im- 
provement. AVas  it  this  that  many-  years  ago  induced 
a  theological  professor  to  say  to  his  class,  what  others 
have  since  thought,  "If  you  want  Hebrew,  we  can 


CONCLUSION. 


301 


teach  it;  if  you  seek  Greek,  we  can  impart  it;  if  you 
come  for  theology,  we  can  give  you  necessary  in- 
struction; but  if  you  have  not  common  sense,  the  Lord 
help  you,  for  we  cannot?"  Thomas  Adams  says,  "An 
old  man  that  is  not  made  wiser  by  his  experience  is 
like  a  bolter,  that  lets  all  the  fine  flour  go  through  and 
catches  only  the  bran."  But  there  are  those  to  whom 
the  lesson  of  one  day  is  nothing  for  the  next.  By  the 
same  processes  the  same  bitter  experience  is  kept  up. 
Thus  they  go  stumbling  and  falling,  then  rising  up 
with  a  bruise  and  again  falling  with  greater  injury, 
now  inviting  and  now  encountering  an  opposition  that 
is  as  real,  it'  not  as  hard,  as  adamant  ;  yet  reposing  in 
their  own  strength  they  show  an  inflexibility  of  purpose 
in  matters  of  indifference  that  is  justified  only  where 
principle  is  involved.  No  man  more  certainly  needs 
common  sense  than  the  Christian  pastor.  To  be  wise 
in  preaching  the  word,  in  suiting  his  sermons  to  the 
people,  in  the  labors  of  the  altar  and  the  Sunday-school, 
in  the  leaders'  meeting  and  quarterly  conferences, 
when  in  all  these  places  we  have  so  many  facts  to  con- 
sult, here  is  indeed  a  loud  call  for  the  exercise  first 
of  grace  and  then  of  common  sense.  Lack  of  this 
shows  what  we  call  imprudence.  A  word  improperly 
spoken  in  some  of  these  relations  may  kindle  a  fire 
that  no  waters  can  extinguish  and  that  hardly  any 
time  will  cause  to  die  out.  Such  incaution  has  made 
many  a  minister  pass  sleepless  nights  and  weeks  of 
uncertainty  as  to  result.  But  the  discomfort  to  his 
own  mind  may  not  be  the  worst  of  it.  A  generation 
has  not  removed  from  a  community  the  difficulty  that 
the  lack  of  common  sense  in  administration  has  cre- 
ated. 

Strife  about  minor  matters  has  blasted  all  hope  of 
success  in  things  of  greatest  moment.     "  The  mint, 


362 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


anise  and  cumin"  have  destroyed  the  weightier  mat- 
ters of  the  law,  and  the  preacher  is  powerless. 

The  writer  once  heard  one  of  the  wisest  professors 
in  a  theological  seminary  say  to  his  class,  with  great 
tenderness,  "  Brethren,  more  men  in  the  ministry  lose 
their  positions  and  are  kept  out  of  places  from  want 
of  discretion  than  from  want  of  talent  and  learning." 
They  are  scarcely  in  a  charge  before  some  novel  thing 
of  questionable  utility  is  proposed,  suspicion  is  roused, 
prejudice  is  awakened,  and  opposition  starts,  a  schism 
is  made,  and  the  pastor  is  gone.  He  enters  another 
parish;  he  begins  on  the  same  course;  the  people  now 
inquire  of  his  history  and  find  he  is  reproducing  the 
past,  and  for  like  reasons  he  has  to  leave.  The  facts 
are  carried  to  other  churches.  In  vain  is  it  said  he  is 
a  good  man,  that  he  is  educated,  that  he  is  eloquent,  he 
is  young,  and  therefore  allowance  is  to  be  made.  He 
has  lost  his  place,  and  there  is  no  prospect  of  another, 
and  this  when  he  should  be  in  the  height  of  ministerial 
power. 

It  may  sometimes  excite  our  marvel  that  the  cause 
seems  so  slight  that  renders  high  merit  unavailable. 
But  as  a  fly  may  spoil  the  apothecary's  ointment,  so 
"doth  a  little  folly  him  that  is  of  great  reputation  for 
wisdom." 

Common  sense  does  not  forbid  an  issue  when  prin^ 
ciple  demands  it.  He  is  a  craven  who  will  not  meet 
responsibility.  There  were  times  when  Dr.  Durbin 
encountered  difficulty  with  a  courage  that  no  fear 
could  daunt.  The  narrative  of  his  life  has  set  forth 
some  such  occasions.  It  is  not  the  fear  of  man,  but  the 
fear  of  God,  that  gives  caution  to  the  wise. 

If  common  sense  could  not  be  taught  as  well  as  im- 
proved it  were  vain  to  speak  or  write  of  it.  Like  some 
faculties  of  the  mind,  it  may  be  of  difficult  develop- 


CONCLUSION. 


303 


ment,  but  by  close  observation,  by  past  mistakes,  by 
careful  guard  against  those  tendencies  whence  greatest 
danger  arises,  even  the  obtuse  will  reveal  new  charac- 
teristics. By  studying  theories,  indulging  speculations, 
allowing  unhealthy  trains  of  thought  and  habit,  the 
wise  may  become  foolish,  and  by  ignoring  common 
sense  fanaticism  may  take  the  place  of  discretion.  Is 
it  not  a  high  tribute  paid  to  such  decision  when  we 
say  in  ordinary  affairs  "  our  first  thought  is  generally 
the  best."  Common  sense  seems  like  a  law  within  us — 
determining  the  questions  of  which  it  is  capable. 

In  the  face  of  the  assumption  that  great  geniuses  and 
scholars  are  apt  to  be  lacking  in  common  sense  we 
present  John  P.  Durbin.  Will  any  doubt  his  genius  ? 
Was  he  not  an  example  of  the  excellence  of  common 
sense  even  from  youth  to  age  ?  Guardianship  of  his 
younger  brothers;  the  care  with  which  he  sought  and 
the  fidelity  with  which  he  observed  the  counsel  of  his 
friends  in  his  early  ministry;  his  manly  recognition  of 
the  need  of  study  and  education  for  the  highest  useful- 
ness that  he  desired;  his  administration  of  affairs  in 
the  various  departments  of  his  work,  and  nowhere 
more  than  in  his  conduct  as  Corresponding  Secretary  of 
the  Missionary  Society,  all  manifest  the  possession  of  this 
faculty  in  an  uncommon  degree.  Let  any  one  read  his 
articles  in  The  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal  when  he 
was  editor,  and  especially  the  one  on  "  Worship,"  and  tell 
us  when  as  a  preacher,  debater,  writer,  he  failed,  with  all 
his  genius,  to  show  his  common  sense.  Let  those  who 
consider  the  exercise  of  this  faculty  after  he  became 
learned  say  whether  fine  education  impairs  its  exercise. 
Was  it  not  like  the  background  in  the  picture  of  his 
life,  that  showed  all  his  other  powers  to  greatest  ad- 
vantage ? 

It  was  remarked  of  the  Rev.  Albert  Barnes  that 


364 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIX. 


his  clear,  strong,  honest,  practical  good  sense  was 
the  secret  of  his  power  and  the  source  of  his 
success.  But,  while  showing  this  sense  what  honor 
did  he  bring  to  the  Church  !  What  benefit  by  his 
writings  did  he  confer  upon  the  world  !  Was  it  not 
the  sterling  common  sense  of  Dr.  Durbin  that  showed 
his  administration  in  every  place  that  he  filled  to  such 
advantage  ?  Is  it  not  permitted  ministers  still  to  say, 
with  St.  Paul  to  his  son  in  the  Gospel,  "  God  has  not 
given  us  the  spirit  of  fear,  but  of  power,  of  love,  and  of 
a  sound  mind  ?  "    2  Tim.  i,  7. 

But  while  we  justly  emphasize  the  common  sense  of 
Dr.  Durbin  we  must  not  fail  to  consider  those  powers 
that  impress  us  with  his  high  capabilities.  He  had  a 
mental  penetration,  a  clear  and  comprehensive  view 
of  matters  of  magnitude  to  the  Church  of  Christ ;  a 
recognition  of  the  tendency  of  events.  He  well  under- 
stood the  workings  of  human  nature ;  the  influence  of 
the  varying  conditions  of  society  ;  he  had  accuracy 
in  estimating  the  forces  that  it  is  necessary  to  compute 
in  the  anticipation  of  desired  results.  His  self-control 
in  the  midst  of  strong  excitements  kept  him  from  the 
mental  disturbance  that  impairs  energy  and  destroys 
faith,  and  so  unfits  men  for  a  great  crisis  or  important 
changes.  These  facts  marked  him  as  a  controlling  spirit 
in  any  association,  and  fitted  him  for  the  highest  eccle- 
siastical statesmanship,  while  his  elevation  of  character, 
his  utter  freedom  from  sinister  or  selfish  motives,  gave 
weight  to  his  reasoning  and  made  his  conclusions  next 
to  moral  demonstrations. 

The  greatness  of  a  man  may  not  be  traced  to  its 
origin  except  in  God.  One  who  is  truly  great  lives 
rather  in  posterity  than  in  ancestry.  Like  Abel,  "  he 
being  c]ead  yet  speaketh." 

One  has  beautifully  said  that  "  The  beginnings  of 


CONCLUSION. 


365 


many  a  successful  career,  like  those  of  the  river  Nile, 
are  unseen."  And  Mahaffy  declares,  "  The  intellectual 
kings  of  the  world  are,  like  Melehisedec,  without  fa- 
ther, without  mother,  without  descent,  having  neither 
beginning  of  days  nor  end  of  life." 

Dr.  Durbin  is  one  of  whom  it  is  difficult  to  write 
with  fairness  and  fullness  without  seeming  to  exag- 
gerate ;  and  yet  not  to  describe  him  as  he  was  is  to  do 
injustice  to  his  memory.  The  writer  knows  no  motive 
for  adulation,  and  the  biographer  of  an  extraordinary 
man  should  not  write  of  him  as  of  one  of  ordinary 
powers. 

David  said,  "  In  thine  hand  it  is  to  make  great." 
Whatever  of  intellectual  or  moral  susceptibility  Dr. 
Durbin  had  he  received  from  God,  and  recognized  it  as 
a  divine  gift,  and  improved  it  as  one  who  must  give 
account.  He  as  truly  as  St.  Paul  could  say,  "  By  the 
grace  of  God  I. am  what  I  am."  If  we  consider  the 
powers  of  Dr.  Durbin's  mind  in  the  departments  of 
study  to  which  he  devoted  his  attention,  and  remember 
the  embarrassments  under  which  he  in  so  short  a  time 
accomplished  so  much,  we  have  no  reason  to  doubt 
that  his  aptitudes  were  equal  to  his  aspirations — that 
he  could  have  achieved  any  other  purpose  that  he 
might  have  cherished.  He  who  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
five  had  risen  so  far  as  to  be  the  skillful  professor  of 
ancient  languages,  at  the  age  of  thirty  to  be  elected  to 
the  professorship  in  natural  science  in  our  first  univer- 
sity, that  at  thirty-two  could  edit  The  Christian  Advo- 
cate and  Journal  with  such  ability,  that  at  thirty-four 
could  fill  with  highest  reputation  the  presidency  of  a 
college  that  had  failed  under  the  greatest  talents  and 
strongest  denominational  influences;  he  who  could  honor 
all  these  positions  and  at  last  give  twenty-two  years  of 
his  mature  life  to  such  a  work  as  Corresponding  Secre- 


366 


JOHN  P.  DURBIX. 


tary  of  the  Missionary  Society  and  advance  it  to  such 
a  power;  he  who  showed  himself  a  master  in  skill,  an 
oracle  in  wisdom,  and  a  pillar  of  strength  in  the  cause 
of  his  advocacy,  he  surely  may  be  accepted  as  "  a 
prince  and  a  great  man  in  Israel."  Might  not  the 
words  that  were  considered  an  appropriate  epitaph  for 
Wordsworth  be  applied  with  equal  justice  to  Dr.  Dur- 
bin,  "  Here  lies  a  man  who  did  wThat  he  intended  ?  " 

To  one  who  carefully  observed  the  life  and  labors  of 
Dr.  Durbin  it  would  be  just  to  conclude  that  from  his 
conversion  to  his  death  he  was  influenced  by  the  con- 
viction that  human  existence  implies  real,  stern,  abid- 
ing responsibility  ;  that  talents  are  for  improvement 
and  time  for  a  wise  appropriation,  and  that  opportuni- 
ties impose  obligations.  We  cannot  better  convey  the 
estimate  of  Dr.  Durbin  as  to  his  true  position  than  in 
the  language  of  Albert  Barnes  on  another  occasion  : 
"  It  has  been  comparatively  rare  in  this  world  that 
any  individual  has  embarked  on  life,  or  on  any  enter- 
prise, with  a  determined  purpose  to  see  how  much 
could  be  done  by  the  utmost  efforts  of  which  the 
mind  and  the  body  could  be  made  capable.  Occasion- 
ally such  an  individual  has  appeared,  and  appeared  to 
astonish  us  no  less  by  the  vastness  and  the  success  of 
his  own  efforts  than  by  the  proof  which  he  has  thus 
furnished  of  the  imbecility  and  indolence  and  wasted 
talents  of  the  great  mass  of  mankind.  Such  a  man 
was  Howard — living  to  make  full  proof  'of  how  much 
could  be  done  in  a  single  object  of  benevolence.'  The 
energy  of  his  determination,  it  has  been  said,  '  was  the 
calmness  of  an  intensity  kept  uniform  by  the  nature  of 
the  human  mind  forbidding  it  to  be  more  and  by  the 
character  of  the  individual  forbidding  it  to  be  less.' 
The  habitual  passion  of  his  mind  was  a  measure  of 
feeling  almost  equal  to  the  temporary  extremes  and 


CONCLUSION. 


367 


paroxysms  of  common  minds,  as  a  great  river  in  its 
customary  state  is  equal  to  a  small  and  moderate  one 
when  swollen  to  a  torrent.'  Such  a  man,  in  a  far  differ- 
ent department,  was  Napoleon,  living  to  illustrate  the 
power  of  great  talents  concentrated  on  a  single  object, 
and  making  1  full  proof  of  the  terrible  energy  of  the 
single  passion  of  ambition.  Such  a  man,  too,  was  the 
short-lived  Alexander;  and,  in  a  different  sphere,  such 
a  man  was  Paul ;  and,  to  a  considerable  extent,  such  a 
a  man  was  Whitefield.  But,  compared  with  the  im- 
mense multitude  of  minds  which  have  existed  on  the 
earth,  such  instances,  for  good  or  for  evil,  have  been 
rare.  A  part  has  been  sunk  in  indolence  from  which 
no  motives  would  rouse  them.  Part  have  been  wholly 
unconscious  of  their  own  powers.  Part  have  never 
been  placed  in  circumstances  to  call  forth  their  ener- 
gies, or  have  not  been  endowed  with  original  power  to 
create  such  circumstances  or  to  start  a  plan  that  should 
require  such  concentrated  efforts  to  complete  it.  Part 
have  never  been  under  the  right  influence,  in  the  proc- 
ess of  training,  to  make  *  full  proof '  of  the  powers  of 
the  soul.  Part  have  wasted  their  talents  in  wild  and 
visionary  schemes,  unconscious  of  the  waste  or  of  the 
main  error  of  their  life  till  life  was  too  far  gone  to  at- 
tempt to  repair  the  loss;  some  are  thwarted  by  a  rival; 
some  meet  with  discouragements,  are  early  disheart- 
ened, and  give  up  all  effort  in  despair.  Most  reach  the 
close  of  life  feeling,  if  they  have  any  right  feeling,  that 
they  have  accomplished  almost  nothing ;  the  good 
usually  with  the  reflection  that  if  they  ever  accomplish 
much  it  must  now  be  in  a  higher  state  of  being."  Dr. 
Durbin  felt  he  was  God's  property,  and  that  he  must 
make  the  most  of  the  divine  investment  in  him.  To 
show  the  benign  influence  of  a  life  of  such  labor  and 
success  in  the  cause  of  God  and  the  results  of  the  ef- 


368 


JOHN  P.  DUBBIN. 


forts  of  an  arch-infidel  upon  the  world,  whatever  may 
be  his  learning  or  eloquence,  we  adopt  the  language  of 
Dr.  Southey  in  his  contrast  of  the  lives  of  Voltaire  and 
Wesley.  He  says:  "While  the  one  was  scattering  with 
pestilent  activity  the  seeds  of  immorality  and  unbelief, 
the  other,  with  equal  unweariable  zeal,  labored  in  the 
cause  of  religious  enthusiasm.  The  works  of  Voltaire 
have  found  their  way  wherever  the  French  language  is 
read,  the  disciples  of  Wesley  wherever  the  English  is 
spoken.  The  principles  of  the  arch-infidel  were  more 
rapid  in  their  operation;  he  who  aimed  at  no  such  evil 
as  that  which  he  contributed  so  greatly  to  bring  about 
was  himself  startled  at  their  progress.  In  his  latter 
days  he  trembled  at  the  consequences  which  he  then 
foresaw,  and,  indeed,  his  remains  had  scarcely  moldered 
in  the  grave  before  those  consequences  brought  down 
the  whole  fabric  of  government  in  France,  overturned 
her  altars,  subverted  her  throne,  carried  guilt,  devasta- 
tion, and  misery  into  every  part  of  his  own  country, 
and  shook  the  rest  of  Europe  like  an  earthquake.  Wes- 
ley's doctrines,  meantime,  were  slowly  and  gradually 
winning  their  way;  but  they  advanced  every  succeeding 
year  with  accelerated  force,  and  their  effect  must  ulti- 
mately be  more  extensive,  more  powerful,  and  more 
permanent,  for  he  has  set  mightiest  principles  at  work." 
Nor  can  any  one  calculate  the  influence  for  good  that 
went  forth  from  Dr.  Durbin,  in  the  various  positions 
that  he  filled  in  the  Church,  upon  our  own  country  and 
upon  the  globe:  while  he  who  rejects  the  claims  of  the 
Almighty,  of  whatever  power  of  tongue  or  pen,  must 
be  regarded  as  an  enemy  to  the  human  race. 

More  than  thirty  years  ago  Dr.  Abel  Stevens,  the 
historian  of  Methodism,  pronounced  Dr.  Durbin  "  the 
most  interesting  preacher  in  the  Methodist  pulpit." 
Learned  men  we  may  have  had  of  a  more  accurate,  if 


CONCLUSION. 


369 


not  a  broader  scholarship  ;  writers  of  a  more  fruitful, 
if  not  of  a  more  facile  pen  ;  but  where  one  whose  mind 
was  better  disciplined,  whose  faculties  were  better  di- 
rected, or  whose  resources  were  more  fully  at  the 
Church's  command,  or  by  whom  more  was  accomplished 
in  the  divers  and  responsible  positions  that  he  filled  ? 
When  was  learning,  genius,  culture,  devotion  to  duty, 
turned  to  better  account  ?  American  Methodism  has 
always  had  men  adapted  to  her  stations,  but  who  from 
her  origin  has  occupied  so  many  distinguished  places, 
and  for  so  long  a  time  ?  Is  there  one  of  all  those  various 
positions  that  he  did  not  exalt  by  his  talents  and  his  skill 
and  moral  worth  ?  If  as  a  Church  we  can  boast  a  greater 
name  than  John  Price  Durbin,  then  indeed  we  are  hon- 
ored !  In  the  senate,  cabinet,  diplomatic  corps,  judi- 
ciary, or  chair  of  the  executive,  he  might  have  filled 
the  first  place  in  the  nation. 

To  the  glory  of  Christ's  kingdom,  he  laid  his  talents 
at  the  foot  of  the  cross  and  gave  his  life  to  the  duties 
of  the  ministry.  To  the  young  Methodist  preacher  the 
life  of  John  P.  Durbin  is  a  vast  folio  for  study,  but  in 
its  title-page  is  the  motto  that  formed  the  theme  of  one 
of  his  first  baccalaureate  discourses  at  Dickinson  Col- 
lege :  "  The  High  Purpose  and  Firm  Resolve."  This  is 
the  key  to  his  greatness,  and  Grace  furnishes  that  kev. 
25 


THE  END. 


1012  01044  0339 


